If you think Judaism has got problems, you’ve clearly never heard of IHM — the Institute For The Higher Mind. This self-help organization, which has some creepy similarities to Scientology, provides the dramatic setting of E! Network’s scripted show_ The Arrangement_, whose first season premiered last year. Produced by Jewish producer Jonathan Abrahams — known…
President Trump may have low approval ratings, but most Christians are praying for him. According to new research from the Barna group, 69 percent of what they call “practicing” Christians pray for Trump, with evangelicals being the highest, at 88 percent. Among those in non-Christian religions, only 18 percent do. The study does not show…
Just over half of all adults in the United Kingdom pray, even those who say they’re not religious, a new poll shows. One in five adults who say they’re not religious still pray — and half of those say they think God hears their prayers. A poll done by Christian aid agency, Tearfund, found that…
I have a reputation. When I walk into certain rooms, people roll their eyes. At least they used to. For several years, I worked at a secular, non-profit educational institution, but people there didn’t always behave in a completely secular way. At the “holiday” party, the community sang “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” and a…
For years, I’ve taken care to light the Hanukkah candles with my children. I fry latkes every single night for eight nights and make sure we sing all the right songs. I buy doughnuts filled with jelly and sometimes even make my own. And I hate every moment of it, because it was at Hanukkah…
Why do we light Hanukkah candles? We tell our children how to light and when to light but we don’t tell them the real reason we light. Most people believe that we light Hanukkah candles because a single pot of oil – which was meant to last one day to light the Temple’s Candelabra –…
…I wanna rock your gypsy soul Just like way back in the days of old Then magnificently we will float Into the mystic. —Van Morrison Pop singers waxing eloquent about love and sex freely borrow from the religious vernacular. Religion returns the compliment. In many synagogues these days, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah has been adopted as…
A follow-up to an essay published last week, “Do Pluralistic Jewish Organizations Stop At The Orthodox?” A few months ago, I attended a lecture by an acclaimed academic, an Orthodox Jewish female leader. She recounted a story: Highly credentialed with degrees from Ivy League institutions, she was invited to be on a panel discussion at…
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