Somehow, the rabbinic associations of both the Reform and Conservative movements decided to hold their conventions this week in our nation’s two most notorious cities of sin — New Orleans and Las Vegas respectively. I’m not attending either convention in person (does Twitter count?), but I have been following the speeches at the Rabbinical Assembly…
There are certain obscure laws in Judaism that one doesn’t expect to be explained and debated on Comedy Central. Certainly the “legal fiction” known as an eruv is one of these. According to Jewish law, a Jewish person is forbidden from carrying (or even pushing a baby stroller) from one domain to another on the…
A couple weeks ago, my wife and I attended a Purim party. I had no idea what to wear. In past years I was able to figure out what to wear based on the theme. Black tie? Got it covered. Western attire? No problem (jeans, flannel and cowboy hat). 70’s Disco attire? That’s easy (and…
There have been several former NBA players who have gone on to play for Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club. However, I can’t think of any players to do so while in the middle of an NBA contract. Sacramento Kings player Omri Casspi has announced that he may return to his former team in Israel…
At some point in 1996, I sat down to begin writing a draft of my application essays for rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary. One of the questions asked what the focus of my future rabbinate would be and it didn’t take long to formulate an answer that included paying more attention to Jewish…
Music Rooms reports that the actress Isla Fisher (“Wedding Crashers”), the wife of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, joked that after converting to Judaism she now wants to become a rabbi. Isla became engaged to the comedian in 2004, and studied for three years before completing her conversion in early 2007. The 35-year-old star took on…
I pride myself on always trying to provide factual information on this blog. However, it has come to my attention that six years ago, in March 2005, I reposted a news report that the Jewish/Israeli actress Natalie Portman made a $50 million gift to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. I didn’t provide any of my own…
I published my first blog post on the Huffington Post website back in October. What immediately amazed me was the large number of comments posted about my piece. In the first couple of days there were close to 500 responses to what I had written. And then I began to skim these “talkbacks” to find…
Urban Dictionary defines “Boomshakalaka” as “An onomatopoeic ‘in your face.’ Originally the sound of a slam-dunk in basketball — the “boom” being the dunk, and the “shakalaka” being the rattling of the backboard.” In the early years of ESPN, it was common to hear an ESPN personality throw out an energetic “boomshakalaka” when showing the…
This year is a leap year on the Jewish calendar so there is a second month of Adar. The fun and silly holiday of Purim occurs this month and that means the levity has begun. Two funny videos for Purim are already attracting quite a bit of attention on YouTube. The Yeshiva University a capella…