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Gary Rosenblatt’s op-ed in the Jewish Week titled “The Next Great Jewish Idea” should read “The Next Great Jewish Band-Aid.” What is remarkable about the piece is that it contains not one idea. Instead of realizing that Jewish outreach and life is totally devoid of any powerful ideas and vision, Rosenblatt, who I consider a…

Gary Rosenblatt’s op-ed in the Jewish Week titled “The Next Great Jewish Idea” should read “The Next Great Jewish Band-Aid.” What is remarkable about the piece is that it contains not one idea. Instead of realizing that Jewish outreach and life is totally devoid of any powerful ideas and vision, Rosenblatt, who I consider a…

It’s a fact: In public life, we often tend to make judgments based on appearances. If someone looks or acts different enough from us, we tend to believe his or her views are outside of the mainstream as well. For politicians in particular, being considered “out of the mainstream” is damaging, and this raises some…

Andrew Sullivan has raised the issue of Mitt Romney’s Mormon underwear. Sullivan, usually a very astute and articulate voice, goes a bit too far on this one. Rabbi Grossman is right on this one. Who really cares what undergarments Romney wears or doesn’t wear? I know this is a total overstatement, but what goes on…

Andrew Sullivan has raised the issue of Mitt Romney’s Mormon underwear. Sullivan, usually a very astute and articulate voice, goes a bit too far on this one. Rabbi Grossman is right on this one. Who really cares what undergarments Romney wears or doesn’t wear? I know this is a total overstatement, but what goes on…

What should the role of religion be in politics? There has been some recent, some might say puerile, interest in the religious observances of two Mormon politicians, Massachusetts Republican governor and presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada), who will become Senate Majority Leader in January. The real questions that should be…

Rabbi Stern’s presentation of the issue of Jewish status as a question of genes vs. identity is right on the mark. Judaism has been so hard to pin down for so many people because it’s not a religion–you can certainly be Jewish without believing in God or following any Jewish practices–nor is it a race…

In juxtaposing “blood and genetics,” by which I presume he means those born of a Jewish mother, with those who “identify with the Jewish people and adopt a certain lifestyle,” by which I presume he means those who self-identify as Jews by their feelings or actions, Rabbi Stern misses one critical component of Jewish identity:…

In juxtaposing “blood and genetics,” by which I presume he means those born of a Jewish mother, with those who “identify with the Jewish people and adopt a certain lifestyle,” by which I presume he means those who self-identify as Jews by their feelings or actions, Rabbi Stern misses one critical component of Jewish identity:…

There have always been two sides to the “Who is a Jew?” question. There are those who identify Jews primarily through blood and genetics, and those who see being a Jew as being more about choosing to identify with the Jewish people and adopt a certain lifestyle. With an intermarriage rate hovering around 50 percent,…
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