2013
Simchat Torah Firsts
This past Simchat Torah I had the fortune of dividing my time between two minyanim: the Mount Sinai Jewish Center in Washington ...
The Jewish Banjo
In this season of Thanksgivukkah, I’ve started to think a lot about cultural syncretism. I’ve come to the conclusion that, ...
Who Will My Daughter Be?
On October 1 (and about four and half weeks early), my wife and I welcomed our daughter into the world. ...
Shomrei Adamah: Guardians of the Land
We are told very early on in our Jewish history of the importance of ruling over our lands responsibly, of ...
Sweet Judgment
When I was a kid, every morning I’d watch my father shave from my perch on the rim of the ...
Kathryn Wiener, A Woman of Vision
“All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.” — Victor HugoThis ...
Good Reasons to Institute Civil Marriage in Israel? We’ve Got Thousands.
Avishalom Westreich and Pinhas Shifman, religious Israeli legal scholars of marriage and divorce law who presented compelling proposals at JOFA’s Agunah ...
A Halloween With Jewish Values?
Lately it seems like Halloween has becomes a Rorschach test for how Jews feel about assimilation. As expressed in this eloquent blog ...
Tefillahpolooza: 40 Minutes of Spiritual Fulfillment
“Are you ‘Banging on Things’ today?” “No, I’m checking out ‘Ein Kleine Prayermusik’ with the principal.” “I’m going to the ...
Kosher Soup for Ramadan & Other Tales of My Mother’s Moroccan Childhood
The Bergen Record was coming to my house to do an interview for my new novel. You’d think after having ...