Ira Rifkin has an interesting article in this week’s Jewish Week about the Tiferet Institute’s recent conference on Kabbalah for the Masses.
Rifkin notes that the most notable participant was the Kabbalah Centre’s Rabbi Michael Berg. Kudos to the conference organizers for finding a way to engage and debate Berg and not just ignore him.
One of […]

The Israeli airline Israir is trying to capitalize on the Ultra-Orthodox community’s disappointment with El Al.
JTA reports:
Israir announced that on Thursday it would install a Torah scroll aboard one of its planes as part of efforts to accommodate religious passengers who want to hold prayer services midair.
Canonist was up on this a week ago and […]

On the Daily Shvitz yesterday, Elisa Albert referred to an amazing article from the New York Times last month about the death of the literary feud. The heavyweight champion of this sport, of course, was Norman Mailer.

In “Evaluations — Quick and Expensive Comments on the Talent in the Room,” an essay in his 1959 […]

I only just stumbled upon Terry Eagleton’s review of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion in the London Review of Books (thanks to Cross-Currents).
You should read the review if you’re still interested in Dawkins’ strident case for atheism, but also if you’ve never read anything by Eagleton.
A few years back, I did graduate work at the […]

This week on MyJewishLearning, Rabbi Daniel Nevins reflects on his role in the Conservative movement’s recent debate on homosexuality and halakha. Rabbi Nevins co-authored the responsum that allows for gay rabbis and commitment ceremonies.
Nevins writes:
My “ah-hah” moment came a few years ago when I was studying daf yomi, the daily Talmud page, and came back […]

What happens when Christmas and Hanukkah don’t coincide? Simple. Extend Hanukkah! It seems many of us have adopted the model of a holiday “season,” eschewing the specifically prescribed dates.
I was invited to two Hanukkah parties this past Saturday night, the 9th night of Hanukkah, and Hanukkah was noted at JDub Records’ Jewltide Saturday night (the […]

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The Ethics of Our Fathers famously defines an “argument for the sake of heaven” and an “argument not for the sake of heaven” by giving examples of both. The arguments between the ancient scholars Hillel and Shammai were for the sake of heaven; while the arguments of Korah and his cronies were not.
But what was […]

This week’s Jewish Week has two letters from rabbis on the Conservative movement’s Law Committee, explaining their recent votes on homosexuality.
Rabbi Adam Kligfeld who voted for both the Roth “anti” responsum and the Dorff-Reisner-Nevins “pro” responsum had this to say:
I did indeed vote for both the Roth and Dorff/Nevins/Reisner papers, which do indeed contradict […]

Christmas is approaching, which means it’s time to make jokes about Chinese food, going to the movies, and how guilty we feel liking all those pretty lights.
Let’s face it, more American Jews think and talk about their Jewish identity during Christmas than, say, Shavuot. Does that make Christmas a special day for Jews?
Well, yes. Sort […]