(JTA) — Novelist Michael Chabon delivered a diatribe against Jewish inmarriage, as well as Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, in a commencement speech to newly ordained Reform rabbis. Speaking to the graduating class of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles on May 14, the author of acclaimed novels including “The…
Rebecca Ennen wrote in the Forward about her struggles in getting rabbis and fellow Jews to accept interfaith families. To Jewish leaders, she writes, “Do you think you can “welcome” us into synagogues, schools, and camps, while you talk openly about how our existence is a threat?” I’m a rabbi, and let me say it…
While Carey Purcell’s recent personal op-ed about her failed attempts at interfaith dating had poor timing, there is nothing in her statement that I have not heard, witnessed or experienced after nearly 45 years as a Reform rabbi. The shock, rage and concern that the piece was anti-Semitic was, in my view, misplaced. The woman…
The writer of a widely-criticized Washington Post op-ed about her bad experiences dating Jewish men issued an apology on Tuesday. “I am truly sorry I offended so many,” freelance writer Carey Purcell wrote on her personal website. “It was never my intention to disrespect the Jewish faith or anyone who engages in Jewish customs, traditions…
I read Carey Purcell’s personal essay, I am tired of being a Jewish man’s rebellion, and felt complete and utter sympathy for the pain Purcell suffered because of her two failed relationships. But even though I’ve been in a very similar situation before, that’s where my sympathy for her thesis ends. Like Purcell, I am…
By now, you’ve probably all read that explosive Washington Post essay entitled “I am tired of being a Jewish man’s rebellion” by Carey Purcell about the terrible struggles of being a female WASP dating Jewish guys who end up breaking your heart and settling down with a good Jewish girl. It’s tough to be a…
Here we go again. The Conservative rabbis disagree with each other about just how bad intermarriage is — is a Conservative rabbi allowed to stand in the back of an interfaith wedding as long as they don’t enjoy it? Or are interfaith marriages so bad that you shouldn’t even attend the chuppah? I am a…
When Rabbi Steven Wernick interviewed to be chief executive of the Conservative movement’s umbrella organization in 2009, he came prepared and had “done his homework,” according to a former board officer who was present. He was then head rabbi of a synagogue in Philadelphia’s wealthy Main Line suburb. Board members were particularly impressed by how…
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