Rabbi Yogi Robkin is the Director of Outreach at DATA of Plano, a synagogue and center for Jewish Education in Plano, Texas. Rabbi Yogi received his rabbinic ordination from Ner Israel Rabbinical Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland and joined Data in 2006 with the goal of sharing Jewish wisdom to individuals with little to no Judaic background. Rabbi Yogi lives in Plano with his wife Shifra and their five children. Follow him on Facebook.
Yogi Robkin
By Yogi Robkin
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Community Don’t Judge Judaism By The Jews
A version of this article originally appeared in the Texas Jewish Post. Throughout my years in Jewish outreach I have heard the phrase “Don’t judge Judaism by the Jews” utilized numerous times in response to bad behavior exhibited by religious Jews. I have even employed the expression myself once in awhile. The problem? — The…
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Community Worried about Jewish Assimilation? Be A Good Person — For Judaism’s Sake
A version of this article originally appeared in the Texas Jewish Post. It was one of the more uplifting articles I had read this year. The Jewish News Service reported on the inspiring story of Rabbi Ari Sytner, who had donated a kidney to a stranger living in Israel back in 2012 when he was…
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Community Why Do Superhero Movies Move Us?
A version of this article originally appeared in the Texas Jewish Post. It’s turning into another summer of superhero domination, with Gal Gadot and “Wonder Woman” strongly leading the fearless pack out of the gates. With superheroes on the brain, I find myself returning to a question I have long pondered: Why do superhero movies…
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Community Is Keeping Shabbat A Choice?
A version of this article originally appeared in the Texas Jewish Post. I find Shabbat dinner to be the perfect setting for those deep philosophical conversations that happen so rarely these days. We’re all so busy with work, family, technology and never-ending errands that finding the time or space to have meaningful conversations is becoming…
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Community What The Holocaust Museum Teaches Us About Human Nature
A version of this article originally appeared in the Texas Jewish Post. This wasn’t the first time I had been to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. I had gone many years earlier as a day school student on a school trip to our nation’s capital and keenly remember the powerful effect…
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Community My Most Disturbing Shabbat
A version of this article originally appeared in the Texas Jewish Post. It was the most disturbing experience I had during my almost two years studying in yeshiva in Israel. My friend who studied in a small yeshiva on the outskirts of one of the oldest neighborhoods in Jerusalem had invited me to spend the…
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Community Mitzvah-Lite: What We Miss When We Only Follow “Moral” Commandments
A version of this article originally appeared in the Texas Jewish Post. The man sitting across from me at the pizza shop was a religiously liberal individual for sure — but also very much a person who wore his Judaism on his sleeve and whose life was dedicated to promoting Jewish values as he understood…
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Community This Passover, We Need A Little Less Freedom and A Lot More Order
A version of this article was originally posted in the Texas Jewish Post It’s that special time of the year again when supermarkets in heavily Jewish neighborhoods advertise their Passover wares, all conveniently stocked under one roof. And inevitably, some cliched tagline along the lines of, “helping you celebrate freedom!” will grace those holiday ads….
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