You can\’t talk about Jewish philanthropy without talking about Jewish priorities. For many years now, a huge priority for the American Jewish community has been to fight assimilation — what is elegantly called \”Jewish continuity.\” It\’s a priority that is rarely challenged. How do you argue against Jewish continuity?
A friend sent me an e-mail telling me I \”can\’t miss\” this Jerusalem rabbi\’s one-man show Sunday night at Beth Jacob Congregation. I opened the e-mail a few minutes before show time, so, on a whim, I ran over to catch \”The Four Faces of Israel,\” starring Rabbi Benji Levene. After two hours of Benji, my head was spinning.
During a Shabbat dinner, I blurted out the idea that maybe we ought to \”marry first and date later.\” Not literally, of course, but in terms of how we approach both dating and marriage.
As we walked back from shul on a recent Shabbat, my friend and neighbor David Myers asked me if I was \”comfortable\” with the service we had just attended.
As I reflected later on my Yemenite moment in time, I couldn\’t help but think of all the traditions that so many Jewish communities throughout the world are fighting to maintain. There are countless variations of Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions that have their own melodies, their own chants, their own ways. We all read the same words, but after that, we\’re allowed to tweak. It\’s as if God gave us the consonants, and then said: \”Have fun with the vowels.\”
…I noticed that my hosts were talking about something called the third ear. It sounded like worn-out hippie schmaltz – this notion of tapping into our \”third ear energy\” to bring more harmony into our lives, and to the world.
In a brilliant article in Haaretz, Moshe Arens explains why you can\’t deter terrorists, you can only fight them. It\’s time for Jews of all stripes to get their mojo back, and join the PR fight.
If there\’s one subject that can spark a juicy debate among lovers of Israel, it is what to do with these millions of Jesus-loving evangelical Christians who love Israel to death.\n
What I did not expect was to get a phone call from one of the city\’s illustrious Orthodox rabbis defending the magical, mystical, community-building power of … the cheesecake.
But unlike Rosh Hashanah — which has the irresistible attraction of a new year and a new beginning — and other holidays that have their own attractions, Shavuot seems to miss that special sizzle that could engage mainstream Judaism.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.