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Jewish Journal

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jewish tradition

Identity and connection spur more adult b’nai mitzvah

Peter L. Rothholz March 14, 2008

The reasons why milifers and seniors have gravitated to adult b\’nai mitzvah programs since the trend first took off in the 1970s are numerous, including the fact that most women didn\’t have such ceremonies until the 1980s (the first bat mitzvah was held in 1922). One perennial influence is a child or grandchild reaching b\’nai mitzvah age, and the divergent issues brought about by intermarriage can sometimes compel one or more adults in a family to take on b\’nai mitzvah study to serve as a role model.

Finding the sacred in the mundane

Amy Klein February 15, 2008

Now, following the latest publishing craze of themed Jewish anthologies comes \”Bread and Fire: Jewish Women Find God in the Everyday\” (Urim Publications, 2008), edited by Rivkah Slonim (with consulting editor Liz Rosenberg). The 400-page compilation features writings from 60 women on topics including modesty, faith, childbirth, prayer, family, community, feminism and, in one way or another, Orthodox Judaism.

But Mom, I don’t want a bar mitzvah!

Amy Hirshberg Lederman January 11, 2008

I saw the blinking light on my answering machine and listened to the frantic voice of my girlfriend, Debbie, as I put the groceries away.

\”Heeeeeelp! Jason says he doesn\’t want to do his bar mitzvah anymore. We\’ve got the date and the place, I\’ve hired the DJ and he\’s already begun to prepare. He\’s making me crazy. What should I do? Call me.\”

Wow, what a bummer, I thought to myself.

‘Mixed’ marriages lose stigma among Iranians

Karmel Melamed December 14, 2007

If Arash Saghian\’s recent marriage had taken place in the late 1980s or early 1990s, he would likely have faced ostracism from Los Angeles\’ Iranian Jewish community. The family of the 25-year-old businessman might have also frowned upon the match, all because his spouse Maya was Ashkenazi.

Eight ways to help heal the earth on Chanukah

Rabbi Arthur Waskow November 30, 2007

There are three levels of wisdom through which Chanukah invites us to address the planetary dangers of the global climate crisis — what some of us call \”global scorching,\” because \”warming\” seems so pleasant, so comforting. We can encode these three teachings into actions we take to heal the earth each of the eight days.

Right or Righteous?

Rabbi Debra Orenstein November 30, 2007

There is a modern-day term for the inability to admit wrongdoing: sociopathy. A conscience that cannot feel guilt is capable of untold evil. An ability to look critically at ourselves, to see where we are wrong, is the beginning of making things right. Being right — in the narrow sense of \”correct\” — amounts to very little, if a correct position isn\’t also righteous. Joseph is correct in interpreting his dreams of domination and superiority to his family, but he is also insensitive and inflammatory. He is right again, according to midrash, in what he tells his father about his brothers\’ bad behavior. But in Jewish law, unlike American, truth is not a defense against defamation. Accuracy is not piety.

Family’s tale recounts Libyan Jewish dispersion

Danielle Berrin November 30, 2007

The opening line from the documentary \”The Last Jews of Libya\” begins a nostalgic visit to an ill-fated community of 25,000 people living between the Mediterranean Sea and North African desert at the dawn of World War II. It\’s a story we know too well — pious, successful and family-oriented Jews living in coexistence with their neighbors suddenly become targets of racial hatred and are ultimately expelled or destroyed. Once in the United States, the immigrants struggle to find their place within an American Jewish life rooted firmly in Eastern European culture.

In search of . . . Chanukah gelt

Amy Klein November 29, 2007

But what is the real origin of gelt? Is it, as my father claimed, really a long-held Jewish custom? And how did gelt evolve from money to chocolate? And why does the chocolate taste so waxy? If gelt is here to stay — if it\’s going to really represent the Jews like mistletoe and holly do the Christians — are there any better options than the molten coins of our childhood? These are some of the questions I had as I set out on my journey in search of gelt.

Individual choice challenges communal commitments

Jacob Schacter November 16, 2007

The principal authority for contemporary American Jews, in the absence of compelling religious norms and communal loyalties, has become the sovereign self. Each person now performs the labor of fashioning his or her own self, pulling together elements from the various Jewish and non-Jewish repertoires available rather than stepping into an \”inescapable framework\” of identity — familial, communal, traditional — given at birth. Decisions about ritual observance and involvement in Jewish institutions are made and made again, considered and reconsidered, year by year, and even week by week. American Jews speak of their lives, and of their Jewish beliefs and commitments, as a journey of ongoing questioning and development. They avoid the language of arrival. There are no final answers, no irrevocable commitments.

Authors explain Jewish influences on their works

Anita K. Kantrowitz November 9, 2007

The Jewish Journal invited writers who will be featured at Sunday\’s Festival of Books to answer the simple, essential question that every Jewish writer is often asked: \”What Jewish sources — ideas, writings, traditions — inspire you, and how do they show up in your work?\” The following show that there is no easy answer to what defines a Jewish author, but there is no question that there\’s much to draw upon within the faith.

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