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36 Rabbis Shaping 21st-Century Judaism
Rabbi Janet Marder
“Rabbi Janet Marder’s work with interfaith couples is truly inspirational. I will never forget her High Holiday thank you and hug on the bimah to our non-Jewish spouses several years ago. She has similarly reached out to our LGBT community, ex-Soviet émigrés, Israelis, veterans and people with disabilities. Recognizing that participation is critical, and that…
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36 Rabbis Shaping 21st-Century Judaism Rabbi Yosef Wolvovsky
“Rabbi Yosef Wolvovsky’s energy and motivation have created a community committed to the beauty of traditional Judaism. Originally numbering hardly a minyan of individuals, today it’s not unusual to find 60 or 70 at a community function. The rabbi’s followers come from a wide range of backgrounds and represent points of view that can be…
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36 Rabbis Shaping 21st-Century Judaism Rabbi Valerie Cohen
“Upon moving to Jackson last June, I was expecting to find a dearth of Jewish life and Jewish learning. Instead, I found the complete opposite: a weekly Talmud class; a weekly Torah study; Reform-style Friday night services; Conservative-style Saturday morning services, and diverse events and speakers almost every Shabbat — supported and organized by Rabbi…
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36 Rabbis Shaping 21st-Century Judaism Rabbi Juan Mejía
“I am the religious leader of a small Jewish community in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Our group has for many years consisted of American expats. Several years ago, a few Mexican nationals began coming to our Shabbat services, wanting to reclaim what they felt to be a Jewish heritage. These “B’naiAnusim” — many from…
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A Pilgrimage to Philip Roth’s Hometown
Philip Roth?s boyhood house is ugly. It?s a three-story home in the Newark, N.J., neighborhood of Weequahic, just a couple of blocks from the local high school. The siding on the upper stories is a greenish yellow. Unlit Christmas lights are strung between the bars on the lower- story windows. A hefty iron gate covers…
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Bibi and Me
Twenty-nine years have passed since Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and I last exchanged glances in that Manhattan hotel room at the Regency. Now that he’s commencing a third term as Israel’s prime minister — a record matched only by founding father David Ben-Gurion — I can’t help but reminisce. Twenty-nine years, and not one phone call…
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Welcoming Elijah in the Age of Guns and Newtown
For many years — centuries —Passover was the scariest time of the year for Jews because it more or less coincides with Easter. “That’s the time when people would do their Passion plays,” writer and rabbi Abby Sosland said. Those gruesome re-enactments of the Crucifixion did not exactly enhance Christian-Jewish relations, and Sosland said, “There…
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Passover Is Time for Gluten-Free Gluttony
Drawing on her last reserves of energy, Merilyn Papernick, a terminal cancer patient, reached out to some local Hasidic Jews in her hometown of Toronto to place a special Passover order: Could they get her gluten-free oat matzo for the upcoming holiday? Papernick, who was 65, suffered from celiac disease, a digestive illness that prevented…
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King Herod, Long Reviled, Finds New Love Among Jewish Settlers
‘Our largest archaeological project ever” is how Israel’s national museum has described its new exhibition featuring King Herod. James Snyder, the museum director, proudly announced that no fewer than 30 tons of material have been brought from one archaeological site alone — Herodion, one of Herod’s palaces and the location of his recently discovered tomb….
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Greece Vows Fight Against Neo-Nazis on Anniversary of Thessaloniki Deportations
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras vowed to crack down on neo-Nazi groups in a landmark speech marking the 70th anniversary of the first deportations of Thessaloniki’s Jews to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Samaras spoke Sunday at a memorial ceremony at the city’s Monastiriotes Synagogue, the first-ever visit by a sitting prime minister to a synagogue…
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Should Every Disabled Child Get a Jewish Education?
As executive director of The David Project, a pro-Israel advocacy group, David Bernstein has spent years urging Jews to raise their voices and take a stand. Recently, though, Bernstein felt isolated when he was told that his 7-year-old son, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, no longer fits into the plans of the Washington-area Jewish…
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