JewsByChoice.Org

Avi posted a very interesting (and amusing) lecture by Professor Sarna a couple of months ago, and his name has appeared periodically in articles posted on this website.  He is a member of my shul in Newton, Mass., and in a recent correspondence with him, I mentioned that his work had such wide appeal on [...]

Jewish tradition tells us that the Second Temple was destroyed as a result of sinat chinam, or baseless hatred.  We mourn this destruction officially on Tisha B’Av, the full fast that falls on August 10 next month.
While "baseless hatred" sounds like a pretty extreme transgression of the Torah, what’s the opposite quality that we should [...]

Hi all,
I’ve been spending lots of time home with my family since the arrival of our new daughter, Nadia (I’ll tell you her Hebrew name after the naming ceremony!), and recently I had a pretty deep discussion with my older two daughters about creation, the Bible, dinosaurs, and how all of that can get really [...]

Last Sunday Tamara and I were out with some friends and at some point the discussion found its way on to the subject of Kashrut. I recommended the book “How to Keep Kosher: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Jewish Dietary Laws ” by Lise Stern because it’s one of the best introductions on the [...]

Cross-posted on True Ancestor
In a previous post, I’ve explored the ideas behind a book that looks at the cross-currents of genes, identity and values and tries to answer the question, “Who is a Jew?”
The answer, according to that post, and the book discussed therein, was “almost everyone.” A new and perhaps even more compelling book on [...]

I have been looking over some books in my library lately, and I thought that it might be helpful for some readers to hear about the work of one of my favorite authors, Dr. Raymond Scheindlin. A professor of Medieval Hebrew Literature at JTS, Dr. Scheindlin is especially gifted at conveying a richly-detailed description [...]

Cross-posted on True Ancestor
More often than not, banning books only tends to bring them more readership and their authors more attention and acclaim. And you can only hope that’s the case with Making of a Godol, a book by the son of a world-renowned rabbi and Torah scholar — a rich and unusually historically [...]

I will be leading Torah study at my temple this week; Dan Nichols is in town a artist-in-residence and there will be a Tot Shabbat before Saturday morning services, thus occupying my rabbi during our Torah study time. Usually our intern would just take over, but he will be out of town for placement interviews, [...]

This has been posted both at TamaraEden and at JewsByChoice.Org
Avi suggested I do a little post about two of our favorite magazines. In general neither of us are big magazine people. That is not to say that I don’t receive a handful of magazines that we have free subscriptions to or relating to [...]

I hope everyone had a great Shabbat and that you are all having a lovely week (plus one day) of Chanukiah candle lighting.
Anyhow, on with the post!
Last week two “Jewish” stories made their way on to the airwaves. One on Social Action/Lobbying within the Reform Movement and the other, on Intermarriage
They are [...]