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'JewSchool' Tag
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J Street U and Birthright: together at last!
January 26, 2011The New Voices blog pointed out today that J Street U, the college arm of J Street, will begin offering a Birthright trip this summer called, “Explore Israel: Progressive Zionism and Social Justice.” As Ben Sales points in the post, this means two things. Both of these things were already known by some, but denied [...]
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Rev. Jackson comes to Shul
January 25, 2011Many may recall Jackson’s tsuris in 1984 when, during a presidential bid, Jackson referred to NYC as Hymie-town. Ever since, he has made strides to make amends and build bridges to the Jewish community. This fall, when bombs were sent to Chicago synagogues from Yemen, Jackson showed up at Anshe Emet Synagogue to show his [...]
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Notes from the Road: Chapter 3 (The Last)
January 24, 2011(This is actually a misleading title, because I am not on the road anymore, and have not been since Friday morning, Israel time.) In the end, no one implores anyone else to make aliyah. It is suggested by those who love me, as a concept, not as a panacea. I was given implicit instructions by [...]
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What of this Generation Gap?
January 24, 2011Independent filmmaker Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon has released Generation Gap, an interesting short film about the impact of the Holocaust on three generations of his family, including his grandfather Wilhelm and father Julian. Watch the entire Generation Gap film below. Ungar-Sargon previously released the controversial feature-length documentary, Cut: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision. His second feature-length [...]
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New website is really into denominational trichotomy
January 20, 2011There is a new website (newish–It says it launched in 2010, but it’s not clear exactly when…) called Jewish Values Online, subtitled multi Jewish perspectives on morals and ethics. At JVO, you can do a search for an answer to your question or ask new questions. Let’s set aside their missing hyphen and the fact [...]
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On retaining hope
January 19, 2011As any of us who are at all politically involved can attest to, it’s pretty damn hard to stay optimistic about world politics. We’re surrounded by immense amounts of pain and suffering, and the governmental structures that supposedly exist to improve those conditions usually move far too slowly, often doing too little too late. I [...]
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Limmud NY Notes: Yes, I went to a Renewal service. And yes, I liked it.
January 19, 2011Crossposted to The Reform Shuckle. I went to Limmud NY 2011 and wrote a lot of posts. Here’s a guide to them. The word Renewal arouses suspicion in me. At Limmud NY on Friday, there was a Renewal service being offered. It was led by David Ingber, the endlessly fascinating spiritual journeyman who founded the flagship [...]
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Rabbah Redux
January 17, 2011JTA reports that last month, the 140 member International Rabbinic Fellowship narrowly voted down admitting women to its ranks as either full or limited members. The Dec. 20 vote came after what the president of the organization, Rabbi Barry Gelman of Houston, told The Jewish Week was a ‘
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Limmud NY Notes: Shabbat as labor law
January 14, 2011I’m at Limmud NY 2011! Here are some notes from a session called Creating an Egalitarian Day for God, taught by William Friedman. There is another note about a liturgical oddity that came up in the session at my blog, The Reform Shuckle, but here’s the guy’s main point: By prohibiting not only field work [...]
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JFSJ delivers 10,000 signatures to Fox News to fire Glenn Beck
January 13, 2011This morning Simon Greer, head of Jewish FundS for Justice, delivered 10,000 signatures and a giant pink slip to Fox News’ corporate headquarters in New York calling for Glenn Beck to be fired. Beck reneged on a pledge against twisting Holocaust history to his political ends, which was originally personally signed and sent to Greer [...]
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A Bissele Mishegaas
January 12, 2011Sarah Palin is the victim of a blood libel! Or um, maybe? Depending on what blood libel means? Religious Zionist Rabbi Dov Lior says that women shouldn’t use non-Jewish sperm in IVF because it leads to “barbaric offspring.” Also, children of single mothers will become “criminals.” An Ohio science teacher evidently has been taking to [...]
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Friday night Debbie
January 12, 2011I’ll admit it- there was a time when my younger self was not into Debbie Friedman, ZL. Growing up in a Conservative minyan in a Reform shul, and being the youngest by a generation in said minyan, I mostly thought her stuff was kinda weak. English? Who sings prayers in English? Non-Jews [...]
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Debbie Friedman and the Tragedy of the Closet
January 11, 2011When I heard that Debbie Friedman had passed away, I was sitting in a conference room at the San Francisco Federation, participating in a board meeting for Keshet, a nonprofit organization working for the full inclusion of GLBT Jews in Jewish Life. I learned of Debbie’
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Memories of Debbie Friedman
January 10, 2011Debbie Friedman’s memory is a blessing. Beyond the hundreds of songs she composed, she was a pioneer of an entire genre of Jewish religious music (sometimes known as “American nusach”) that has revolutionized American Jewish prayer. My memories of Debbie are too numerous to put in a comment, so I’m putting some of [...]
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Prison Story #1
January 7, 2011The arc of the moral universe is long, mother-fuckers, but it bends towards JUSTICE.