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Rahm Emanuel’s Son’s Bar Mitzvah & Religious Pluralism in Israel
ByRabbi Jason Miller June 15, 2010

As I was preparing to board a plane home at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport a few weeks ago, I followed the news reports that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s son’s bar mitzvah would be moved outside of Jerusalem for security concerns. Rahm Emanuel and his Hollywood agent brother, Ari Emanuel, brought their families to Israel…

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America | Community | Conservative Judaism | Jewish | Orthodox Judaism | Politics | Reconstructionist Judaism | Reform Judaism

What Elena Kagan Can Teach Us About Judaism
ByRabbi Jason Miller May 25, 2010

If Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama’s choice to fill the open seat on the Supreme Court, is confirmed there will be two Jewish female justices on the highest court in the U.S. and a full third of the bench will be Jewish for the first time in history. The rest of the justices are Catholic. A Supreme…

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America | Community | Conservative Judaism | Jewish | Orthodox Judaism | Reconstructionist Judaism | Reform Judaism

Denominational Judaism is SO Last Century
ByRabbi Jason Miller April 29, 2010

I am often asked the question: “What kind of rabbi are you?” My tongue firmly planted in my cheek, I usually answer: “A good one!” Of course, the questioner is trying to ascertain in which denomination of Judaism I affiliate and will then make a whole host of assumptions about me. Denominational labels, whether for…

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Conservative Judaism | Food | Jewish | Kosher | News | Orthodox Judaism

How Can Lox Not Be Kosher?
ByRabbi Jason Miller March 12, 2010

Smoked salmon, or lox, has long been known as a staple fare at Sunday brunch in Jewish homes. In fact, Jewish people who claim their Jewish identity as only secular are known as “Bagels and Lox Jews.” Well, now an ultra-Orthodox group of rabbis, the Chevra Mehadrin of Monsey, New York, have included lox on…

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Celebrities | Conservative Judaism | Humor | Olympics | Orthodox Judaism | Purim | Reform Judaism | Sports | World Events

Too Jewey – Purim 2010
ByRabbi Jason Miller February 28, 2010

For some reason, whenever the Jewish holiday of Purim rolls around, my brain uncontrollably starts coming up with parodies, satires, spoofs, and just plain silliness. Here’s a collection of the news items circulating in my head. Happy Purim! TOO JEWEY! By Rabbi Jason, the Official Rabbi of the 2010 Olympic GamesSponsored by Toyota: “Toyota… We’re…

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Conservative Judaism | Israel | Obituary | Rabbi

In Memory of Rabbi Moshe Tutnauer
ByRabbi Jason Miller February 26, 2010

It’s only February and already two of the influential teachers in my life have passed away. In January, my childhood rabbi (Rabbi Efry Spectre) passed away, and yesterday I learned that Rabbi Moshe Tutnauer died. I first met “King Tut,” as he was known, in 1996 when I was working at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in…

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Conservative Judaism | Jewish | Prayer | World Events

Minyans That Don’t Meet & Toyotas That Don’t Stop
ByRabbi Jason Miller February 16, 2010

Rabbi Gerry Skolnik taught my senior seminar in rabbinical school and I’ve continued to learn from him since graduating from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) through his weekly column for The New York Jewish Week and now his blog called “A Rabbi’s World.”. After hearing that an 86-year-old man crashed his Toyota into the front…

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Conservative Judaism | Detroit | Israel | Michigan | Obituary | Rabbi

Rabbi Efry Spectre
ByRabbi Jason Miller January 20, 2010March 31, 2025

Even as a child I felt very comfortable in my family’s synagogue. I went to nursery school in the lower level of Adat Shalom Synagogue and would attend Shabbat services with my grandfather each Saturday morning. I looked up to the rabbi and the cantor of the synagogue, and considered them to be my mentors…

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Conservative Judaism | Diaspora | Israel | Jewish | Orthodox Judaism | Politics | Reform Judaism

Israel, Diaspora Jews, Women, and a Wall
ByRabbi Jason Miller January 7, 2010

I’ve been following with much interest the incident at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem in which a Conservative Jewish woman was arrested for wearing a tallit (prayer shawl). Nofrat Frenkel (pictured) was led away by Jerusalem police in November for the “crime” of praying with a tallit at the Western Wall. She is a…

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Conservative Judaism | Jewish

The Demise of the Conservative Movement
ByRabbi Jason Miller December 30, 2009

As a Conservative rabbi, a Jewish person raised in the Conservative Movement of Judaism, and one whose theology is well grounded in Conservative Judaism, I had absolutely no interest in the Conservative Movement’s Biennial Convention that took place earlier this month in Philadelphia. What’s more is that I didn’t even hear many people (rabbis included)…

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