JewsByChoice.Org

Last May Tamara did a post about the first Abayudaya Ugandan Jew to be ordained at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies (and in fact the first ever from any American rabbinic program). Anyhow it looks like this Rabbi has been a busy beaver since receiving his ordination, because last week he was involved in [...]

First African American woman convert to be ordained as a Reform Rabbi, reports the JTA. Below is an excerpt but if you wish to read the full story, check it out on JTA. \
Raised by Pentacostal parents, Stanton-Ogulnick spent her childhood and young adulthood as a spiritual seeker, making the rounds of various [...]

This is a post I wrote on True Ancestor, and modified for (what I think is) an interesting zine, the New Vilna Review.
Comments welcome, as long as they’re made in the spirit of civil discourse (right, Avi?).

A friend just e-mailed this to me, and I wanted to pop it up really quick to share. I have to admit that my knowledge of U.S. rabbis is pretty weak. I concern myself so much with the great dead teachers (Rashi, Maimonides, etc.) that I seem to forget to look in my own backyard [...]

Hi all. In light of recent events surrounding Pope Benedict’s unfortunate decision to reinstate a Latin prayer for the blindness of my People to end, and the World Evangelical Alliance’s full page ad in the New York Times about their intent to proselytize Jews, I thought it would be useful to write an open [...]

It looks like Israel has had it with the missing link between Israel and the Diaspora, and thus, it has set out to create an International Web Portal for Jewry! There’s also this story.
… last week, cabinet secretary Oved Yehezkel called a meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office of representatives of world Jewish organizations, including [...]

I came across an abundance of interesting articles this morning, and I thought I’d share a couple with the mass. Feel free to comment, especially about item number 1, which I think is absolutely, well, fascinating and a minor bit frustrating (i.e. I think it’s inappropriate for people to convert Orthodox, then walk out of [...]

The New York Times published a story today — How Do You Prove You’re a Jew? I’ve had some problems with the website loading, so be patient. It’s worth the read.
Just when you thought it was difficult as a Jew by Choice (a convert, that is, by any conversion necessary) to make aliyah, you [...]

I am sure that by now you all have seen — or heard about — the new study released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The group interviewed more than 35,000 adults — an amazing scope for such a study! And the results of this survey? The revelation that Americans are switching [...]

I read an article today from World Jewish Digest about the popularity of Jews and Judaism in the U.S., and I thought it would be worth a mention here. It’s a really interesting piece that discusses how we’re handling this newfound popularity. I mean, just look at Madonna and all those celebrities who are hopping [...]