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Virtual Talmud

You know something is happening to Jewish denominations when Orthodox Jews (who pray in gender-segregated prayer services) are calling women up to the Torah for honors (aliyot), while many Conservative congregations that have mixed seating still prohibit women from being called up to the Torah. But the crisis in Jewish denominational life extends well beyond…

Should Judaism proselytize? No. Should it be more welcoming? Yes. For years most rabbis instinctly followed the Talmudic norm that one should push away converts warning them about the difficulties of becoming Jewish. God knows how many conversions stopped with a rabbi explaining to a potential convert, “Do you know how hard this is going…

The Reform Movement’s call to convert non-Jews is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, non-Jews are increasingly being told that they are welcome in liberal congregations and on the other their non-Jewish identity is devalued as they receive the message that they are not welcome to be who they are. I’m not sure that…

When Sex in the City’s Charlotte is rebuffed by the rabbi in her attempts to begin conversion training, series writers evoked the Jewish tradition that potential converts be turned away three times to test their sincerity. There was good reason then a days: A potential convert could be a “double agent,” part of a plan…

It was insensitive and inappropriate for the Danish and Norwegian press to print political cartoons that were disrespectful of Muhammad, in particular, and stereotypical of Muslims, in general. We Jews know how painful, and dangerous, such images can be, especially since the Arab press has been filled with vicious anti-Jewish cartoons for years now. And…

The behavior of Muslims rioting in Damascus over cartoons depicting Muhammad as a terrorist only reinforces the public perception that radical Islam is a danger to humanity. Moreover, sadly, it makes Muslims literally into caricatures of themselves. The rioters’ actions are nothing less than what the Bible describes as Avodah Zarah, a strange and bizarre…

I would be more sympathetic to Muslims’ anger at the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad if it were not accompanied by rampant violence and threats, and if it weren’t being so cynically and opportunistically manipulated by Islamic leaders for their own ends. In Beirut, for example, the burning of the Danish embassy seems to…

Many American Jews do not feel as connected to Israel as they once did, or as Jews living in many other parts of the world do. Israel is far away, perceived as scary, and speaks a language–Hebrew–which is, sadly, Greek to most American Jews. Despite the important work of programs such as Birthright Israel, our…

Here are my top four reasons American Jews should care deeply and passionately about Israel: 1) Security. Rabbi Yitz Greenberg argues that absolute powerlessness corrupts as completely as absolute power because it invites persecution. Jewish history is a catalogue of such powerlessness: expulsions, pogroms, blood libels… The early Zionists understood that a sovereign Jewish state…

What does American Jewry offer Israel and what can Israel learn from America? As my teacher Rabbi David Hartman has suggested, specifically regarding spiritual matters, both populations have a great deal to offer each other. Since its inception Israel has stressed a God of history. The early Zionists privileged the God of the Bible over…
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