Andy Bachman
By Andy Bachman
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Opinion Don’t Believe in God? Come Aboard!
In the latest iteration of communal thinkers puzzling over the state of American Jewry and how to counter the dwindling number of non-Orthodox Jews, the sociologist Steven M. Cohen and Rabbi Kerry Olitzky have proposed a new path to affiliation with the Jewish people. Specifically, they want to try and capture the ever elusive demographic…
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Opinion Congregation Needs To Be Involved in Israel To Make a Difference
Thirty members of our synagogue community are in Jerusalem, standing by the side of the road in Gilo, looking at the security barrier, Bethlehem and a new settlement in the distance. An educator from Ir Amim, which advocates for “a more viable and equitable city,” explains the horizon before us. We knock our heads against…
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Opinion Laws, Not Words, Can Ease Pain of Newtown
The earth-shattering shock of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School continues to reverberate throughout communities and homes all over America. As the weeks go on, rallies, vigils and proposed legislation will offer opportunities for us to find a way forward. In the midst of these expressions of activism, however, there are still the lingering…
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Opinion Reason Prevails in Brooklyn BDS Vote
The defeat of a referendum in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement’s campaign to boycott Israel at Brooklyn’s Park Slope Food Coop was a victory for peace. Most fundamentally, and as we heard consistently from the dais on the night of March 27 at Brooklyn Tech High School’s auditorium, where the debate and…
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Opinion Patrilineal Promise and Pitfalls
One of Reform Judaism’s bravest and most important policy decisions of the past century was the movement’s decision to welcome “patrilineal” Jews as full members of the Jewish people. Rooted in the biblical definition of Jewish lineage, the American Reform movement’s 1983 policy on patrilineal descent held that Jewish identity could be claimed whether one’s…
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Opinion A Click and a Laugh — and a Death
To the young people in our community: I’m your rabbi. As such, I am occasionally asked to share a few words or thoughts when bad things happen to good people. In this case, I want to write some words directly to you about Tyler Clementi’s tragic suicide last week. If you haven’t read about it,…
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