Category Archives: Judaism

Reclaiming Israel’s Reputation

Posted on June 17, 2017 by

I’ve started reading David Brog’s excellent new book Reclaiming Israel’s History: Roots, Rights, and the Struggle for Peace. I’ll post a full review later, but the initial paragraphs of the book describe a situation that seems eerily familiar: “There was a … Continue reading →

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Translating the Bible for Our Era

Posted on May 30, 2017 by

What difference does a translation make? If we take the Torah seriously, a lot. Whether we believe it was given by God to Moses, or only that it’s the foundational text of our identity as Jews, we want to get it … Continue reading →

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Who Counts? We all do.

Posted on May 26, 2017 by

I normally don’t review children’s books, but this one’s a keeper. Who Counts? combines simple, direct storytelling with superb artwork and morally uplifting themes. Its authors, a rabbi and a professor of Jewish Studies, retell three of Jesus’ parables from … Continue reading →

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Immigration and the Image of God

Posted on February 28, 2017 by

My new blog post for The Jewish Journal: Surprisingly – or maybe not – many of our current debates were foreshadowed by ancient rabbinical disputes. One such foreshadowed debate was our national conundrum about immigration, legal and otherwise. In his … Continue reading →

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God’s Silent Speech — and Ours

Posted on February 22, 2017 by

My latest blog post for The Jerusalem Post: What exactly is “the word of God?” And can it teach us about happiness and tolerance? Jewish Studies scholar Shaul Magid doesn’t address the second question in “The Word of God is … Continue reading →

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Fighting Racism Starts in the Heart

Posted on January 11, 2017 by

My latest blog post for The Jewish Journal: When we think of relations between Jews and African-Americans, we naturally think of our proudest moments. And we should. Abraham Joshua Heschel marched side-by-side with Martin Luther King in 1965, helping America … Continue reading →

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Is Lone-Wolf Judaism a Thing?

Posted on December 15, 2016 by

My new blog post for The Jewish Journal: Howard Roark wasn’t Jewish, but his creator was. Roark was the protagonist of Ayn Rand‘s 1949 novel The Fountainhead. An architect who wouldn’t compromise his ideals or his integrity, he declared that … Continue reading →

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