Archive
After a video of a recent service in Georgia with the controversial Bishop Eddie Long went viral, Jewish groups and bloggers were left scratching our heads and saying, “Huh?” The clip, found in last Friday’s Required Reading, featured Long being wrapped in a Torah scroll and declared “king” (though of what is unclear). There were […]
What is beautiful to the Jews? [Tablet] How should Jews respond to the work of great Western classical composers, when so much of their work is rooted in a Christian understanding of the world? Is there an “appropriate” response, or does it really even matter? David Goldman explores the relationship between a Christian conceptualization of […]
Eddie Long… the new Torah? [Forward] In one of the oddest religion stories this year, Atlanta pastor Eddie Long–who recently faced accusations of child molestation, and a subsequent divorce from his wife–was recipient to a strange outpouring of affection from a self-identified Messianic Jew as part of a recent church service. The Huffington Post gave […]
That Israel is a hot-button issue for many American Jews goes without saying. However, to those casting their votes solely on this issue, I beg you to stop and think for a second. While American support of Israel is crucial to the maintenance of a Jewish state, I do not believe in letting it cloud […]
Why Israel shouldn’t be the deciding factor in the American Jewish vote. [Huffington Post] As the traditional Jewish/Democratic alignment is being challenged by those who believe that President Obama has not done enough to reaffirm American support for Israel, Brent Sasley argues for why Jews should remain in the Democratic Camp. “It would be bad […]
The stories have circulated for years. Stories of students being slapped and others called “Nazi” or “gay.” They are shared between alumni, passed on to prospective students and discussed between parents. They’re recounted in debates at high school and college lunch tables. They have inspired their own blog, the Rav Bina Abuse Blog.
They are stories about Rav Aharon Bina, rosh hayeshiva (head of the yeshiva) at Netiv Aryeh — an all-male yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem and a popular destination among American Orthodox high school graduates spending a gap year in Israel before returning to America for college.
And most recently, an article published last week by The Jewish Week has ignited a debate over Rav Bina’s questionable teaching methods, for which he has become infamous.
Big news, folks. Three American Jewish seminaries have been pronounced “sexually healthy:” Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform seminary with branches in Cincinnati, New York City and Los Angeles Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, the — you guessed it — Reconstructionist seminary in Philly Jewish Theological Seminary, the Conservative seminary in New York City The Religious […]
The Jewish state has spoken. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney should be president. Oh, sorry, I was talking about Florida. It may not be the most Jewish state in the Union, but it’s certainly the first in this presidential primary voice to have a sizable Chosen People population choosing. The GOP’s Favorite Lukewarm Son won Florida […]
Not so kosher after all? [Forward] Ever wondered if you were funding the violence of radical ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel? Shmarya Rosenberg is there! Rosenberg finds a link between the purchase of kosher food items in the United States and the militant, fundamentalist groups recently dominating Israel’s headlines. “Most of us do not want our […]