Here’s my latest blog post for Community Next’s “Rabbi J in the D” When asked who is the biggest Jewish celebrity on Sesame Street, most people immediately respond “Mr. Hooper.” And that’s not a bad answer since both Mr. Hooper and his alter-ego Will Lee were Jewish. However, there are two Muppets who are competing over…
I’ve been thinking a lot about labels lately. I recently wrote an op-ed about denominational labels in Judaism that was published in the Detroit Jewish News and on the Huffington Post website. In it, I explained how ambivalent I am about labeling individuals because these labels don’t always help us understand the individual better. Calling…
Cross-posted to the Jewish Techs blog (The New York Jewish Week) Quite often I get asked to consult synagogues on their Web presence. The first thing I do is take a look at their current Web site and try to determine in which year it was created. I can usually tell its production date within…
Here’s my latest blog post for Community Next’s “Rabbi J in the D” (a Jewish celeb blog): One evening in the summer of 2000 when I was working as a chaplain intern at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, I walked into one of those family waiting rooms outside of the patient unit. The television was…
Cross-posted to the Jewish Techs blog (The NY Jewish Week) Yoram Samets, of Jvillage Network in Burlington, Vermont, wrote an interesting essay for the eJewishPhilanthropy blog titled “Purposeful and Passionate: Synagogues in the Age of Facebook.” Ultimately, I think he was being too delicate with synagogues by letting them know that it’s okay to move…
While last week’s decision by the New Jersey Jewish Standard to apologize for the inclusion of a gay wedding announcement and then retract the apology made big news, I didn’t have a chance to weigh in on it. But now, that New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino has essentially done the same thing regarding the…
I began teaching a Melton Scholars Series course this past Wednesday evening. The 10-week course, “Jewish Denominations: Addressing the Challenges of Modernity,” deals with the history of the formation of the modern denominations of American Judaism. I began the first session with a quote by Rabbi Yitz Greenberg: “It doesn’t matter which denomination you affiliate…
It’s no secret that certain Jewish rituals have become mainstream. In her new book, “Kosher Nation,” Sue Fishkoff explains that kosher food isn’t only for Jewish people anymore. “More than 11.2 million Americans regularly buy kosher food, 13 percent of the adult consumer population,” she writes. “These are people who buy the products because they are…
Cross-posted to Jewish Techs The tragic death of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers University student who took his own life after being filmed having sex with a man, has led some to voice concern over young people’s misuse of technology. Rabbi Andy Bachman, the founder of BrooklynJews, wrote an open letter to young people in the…
Cross-posted to Jewish Techs Google Images and YouTube videos are helping Jewish educators create new midrash and bring sacred meaning to age-old traditions. Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz created an innovative, interactive experience for the seven hakafot (circles) of Simchat Torah. Her “Seven Dances for Simchat Torah in the YouTube Era” is available on the Sh’ma Koleinu…