Jane Eisner is right to attribute the change in Reconstructionist Rabbinical College’s intermarriage policy to a disagreement about the rabbi’s role in his or her community. But she misses the reason for this disagreement. : “Clergy don’t reflect their congregations. Clergy lead their congregations — and do so not as leaders who bow to the…
The idea that one must marry a Jew to be an effective Jewish leader, as argued in Jane Eisner’s recent editorial is outdated and counter productive to 21st century Judaism. Not only do intermarried Jewish leaders who already work in the Jewish community debunk stereotypes about Jews who fall in love with a “stranger,” they…
Does it make a difference to the larger Jewish community that the Reconstructionist movement has made the regrettable decision to admit and ordain intermarried rabbis? Its adherents are miniscule: Only about 1% of American Jews identify with the movement. Cross the continent and you’ll find slightly more than a hundred congregations. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College…
Pope Francis is the darling of many liberal Catholics and the world expects he will make life easier for congregants who have not been following the letter of Church law for some time. But when the pontiff comes to Philadelphia on September 26 and 27 for the World Meeting of Families, with an enormous entourage…
Dozens of medieval churches across Europe are adorned with figures of Ecclesia and Synagoga, representations of the Church and the Jews that depict a triumphant Church and a vanquished Jewish people. At the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, they can be found on either side of the main entrance. While the details differ from…
Worried bubbes everywhere, take heart: Just because your daughter (or son) is marrying out of the faith, all hope is not lost. Your daughter’s Catholic husband can still be a great Jewish father. How do I know? Because mine is. While maintaining his Catholic identity, my husband has been a true partner in keeping a…
In the stirring words of his groundbreaking decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy not only affirmed the value of marriage between those of the same sex. He also wrote into the law journals and history books a rigorous, passionate argument for marriage, period. “No union is more profound than marriage,…
(JTA) — Good deeds can be contagious. Just ask Laura Marks, a British Jew who is widely credited with creating one of her community’s most widely celebrated new traditions: an annual Mitzvah Day, now in its 11th consecutive year, in which thousands of British Jews perform charity work in retirement homes, homeless shelters, hospitals and…
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