jewish law

How to Be a “Player” in Jewish Life

What does it take to be a “player” in Jewish life? No, not that kind of “player.” I mean, what ...

From Looking Jewish to Being Jewish

Cultural anthropologists call it ‘going native’. You find yourself in the field as a participant observer of your host culture ...

The Rabbi In My Bedroom

When I got married, there were a million things on my to-do list. There was one thing, one pretty important ...

In Good Faith: Why Religious Freedom Must Go Hand in Hand With Dignity for All

Today I was in the Georgia Capitol to speak against a bill entitled  the Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The battlelines have ...

Let the Parenting Criticism Stop… Unless

The other day I came across a very funny video by Similac, the baby formula company. This extended advertisement was ...

Should We Care About People Not Like Us?

The context was a class on the gun violence epidemic in Chicago. I had finished the presentation by mentioning some ...

The Non-Jewish Rabbi? The Problem of Patrilineal Descent

Two articles posted earlier this week made reference to an individual  who had been born to a Jewish father and ...

Abortion, Birth Control, and the Complexity of Halacha (Jewish Law)

I recently came across a copy of the June 28 issue of  The Jewish Press . The Jewish Press is an Orthodox ...

The blessings of a mixed multitude

A few weeks before I began rabbinical school, I took a vacation and went to visit my in-laws where they ...