To explain the almost cult-like appeal of writerRichard Rodriguez, best known as an essayist on PBS\’ \”News Hour withJim Lehrer,\” let\’s start with a story he told last weekend to anear-capacity crowd at the Skirball Cultural Center
The second International Conference onOrthodoxy and Feminism was held at New York\’s Grand Hyatt Hotel overPresidents Day weekend.
After spending months moderating aweekly chat room in America Online\’s Jewish section, I finally foundEmes, someone I could really talk to.
Stop the presses: The Jewish communityis ready to discover…singles. That\’s right. What intermarriage and\”continuity\” were to the 1990s, singles will be in the years ahead: agroup to study, court, serve and, finally, value.
I knew I was being ridiculous and held my tongue.Inside, I was shriveling. Here was a side of my husband I didn\’tknow, and a world I wasn\’t ready for.
What can American-style liberalJudaism offer Israel? After the battle over the proposed conversionbill is settled, that question will remain. We can puff up our chestsand demand equality with Orthodoxy over who is a Jew. But,inevitably, every political victory in the Knesset will beshort-lived unless we find a way to talk to Israeli Jews about theirown lives.
Mosk is California history with a heartbeat. He\’s the lone Democrat on the Court, its only liberal, and a living reminder of the greatest era in California legal history when our Court was the finest in the nation, a bellwether for individual liberties and establishing legal principles often followed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
My little Long Island town had two shuls: ourConservative synagogue close to home and the one we called the\”other,\” across town. My parents never mentioned it by name. The shulwas Reform.
This is an old game of ours, thepost-holiday auditing of the rabbi\’s performance, commentingcaustically about who was chosen to open and close the ark, to do aspecial reading or carry the Torah scrolls. I knew he expected me to engage with him.\n\nThis year, I wasn\’t playing.
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