A Refreshing Level of Honesty
I am gratified that someone pointed out this column from the Jerusalem Post, called “What Conservative Judaism conserved.” It is relevant to other recent posts, of course, but also stands on its own. The...
Late in the Day
My last post re Conservative clergy mulling homosexual ordination generated comment from several people who communicated their distaste for what I wrote. They raised issues that I feel I should address, and, indeed, I’ve...
Who’s Listening, Indeed?
The JTA headline on the recent World Zionist Organization elections says “WZO Elections Send Pluralist Message – But Who’s Listening?” Perhaps the reason why no one is listening is because that isn’t really the...
Playing (For Time)
As I read about the latest decision by Conservatism to kick the can down the road regarding homosexual ordination, “marriage,” etc., and the ensuing donnybrook of recrimination and response unfolding within the movement, several...
Sociobiology isn’t Science
Marc Hauser and Peter Singer, professor of psychology at Harvard and professor of bioethics at Princeton respectively, recently sought to prove in these pages that our sense of morality is the result of evolution,...
Made in the USA: New Theologies, and the Limits of Orthodoxy
This is one of those challenges we throw out to our readers. It represents thought in progress, not a finished product. Please don’t take it as such. The Orthodox community continues to grapple with...
Rabbis easing rules on conversions?
According to the Miami Herald, “Now even Orthodox rabbis, the staunchest opponents of interfaith marriage, are exploring ways to encourage conversions.” Of course, as the article goes on to stress, the rabbis at the...
Some thoughts on visiting the U.S. Holocaust Museum
One of the highlights of a recent speaking tour in the United States was my first visit to the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. I had some doubts in advance whether there was...
The number one problem of the Jewish people?
8 bAdar If you survey the front page headlines of newspapers in Eretz Israel and Jewish periodicals in the U.S., you would conclude that the most urgent problems of our people center around geopolitics...
Preparing for Jewish burial — the 7th of Adar
The body lies on a stainless steel table, draped with a sheet. Together with three other women, I cut away the body bag and hospital clothes, remove bandages, pull out IV lines. We wash...