Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt
By Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt
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Culture Why Do We Obsess About Bar Mitzvah Torah Readings — When There’s Little Textual Basis For Them?
This is part 1 in a series of articles examining the Bar and Bat Mitzvah ritual in America. Few institutions represent the American Jewish community like the bar and bat mitzvah. It would be surprising, given this cultural emphasis, if this ritual turned out to be almost as modern as the elaborate parties that surround…
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Opinion It’s Time To Stop Patronizing Russian Jews
A black and white film. Moscow’s snow-covered streets. Lines of silenced Jews. Then: protests of Jewish youngsters shouting, “Let my people go.” Avital Sharansky appears, then the Jackson-Vanik amendment. Finally, the Berlin Wall falls, planeloads of Russian Jews arrive in Israel, a new era begins. “Because of us, the USSR fell apart,” activists say proudly….
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Film & TV How a complete unknown created one of the most iconic music events of the 1970’s
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Opinion My Jewish studies students aren’t talking about Israel or antisemitism. They told me why.
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Fast Forward Bernie Sanders downplays Graham Platner’s Nazi tattoo: ‘There might be one or two more important issues’
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News An Israeli restaurant chain said it closed due to boycotts. Protesters are celebrating.
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