RJ Blog

by Dana Sheanin A recent New York Times article explored the new societal phenomenon of the “super people.”  Speaking of today’s high school and college students, author James Atlas ponders “has our hysterically competitive, education-obsessed society finally outdone itself in its tireless efforts to produce winners who abilities are literally off the charts?”  The article goes on to catalogue the many efforts of today’s parents to insure that our children become such super people – “One of my daughter’s classmates has a pilot’s license; 12-year-olds are taking calculus.” As a URJ Youth Specialist and parent of a soon-to-be middle school [...]

by Rabbi Eric H. YoffieOriginally posted on The Huffington Post If you want to know how important Chanukah is to American Jews, look at what happens when Chanukah is criticized. On Wednesday morning, as the Jews of America prepared for the beginning of the holiday that evening, the New York Times published on its op-ed page a rant against Chanukah written by Howard Jacobson. Jacobson, the English author, attacked Chanukah as shallow, imitative, inauthentic, primitive and lacking a compelling religious message. As the article was read and shared throughout the blogosphere, Jews reacted with puzzlement, dismay and not a little [...]

by William Berkson For the past few years the question of the meaning of Chanukah has been discussed in the general press. Here are some purported “meanings,” and my take on them. In 2006, conservative movie critic Michael Medved, said that the Maccabees’ victory was a conservative triumph over liberal Greeks, and that the celebration of Chanukah today is “an annual re-rededication to the values of the religious right.” In 2007, journalist Christopher Hitchens took a similar view of the history, but from the opposite side, saying that Chanukah celebrates “the triumph of tribal Jewish backwardness” over enlightened Greek thought. [...]

by Cantor Sally Neff Rabbi Hillel, a great teacher who lived from approximately 30 BCE until 10CE, taught us one of the most important precepts of our faith, “AlTifrosh Min Hatzibbur – Do not separate yourselves from the community.”Community is central to Jewish faith. Although we can pray alone, we can’t say some of our most important prayers without being in the presence of 10 other Jews – a minyan. We can study unaccompanied, but tradition teaches us that we won’t learn as well or as much as we would studying in hevrutah with a partner. In fact the Hebrew [...]

by Ira WiseOriginally posted on Welcome to the Next Level My friend Ilene urged me to post and expand my answer to her question about an article that appeared in the style section of yesterday’s New York Times. We have been friends since our sons Sammy and Harper were in the baby room at the JCC. I have learned over the years that you don’t spit in the wind, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, and if at all humanly possible, you don’t say no to Ilene. It’s like yelling at the whirlwind. The Times article – Bar Mitzvah Studies [...]

by Larry Kaufman Who would have thought that New Jersey, one of the handful of states that recognizes civil unions and same-sex domestic partnerships, would have made the news twice in just a few days for providing an atmosphere hostile to the LGBT community? The Tyler Clementi suicide has received enough media attention that we need only deplore it here without recapping the details. The more recent flare-up will almost certainly receive less media attention, and thus deserves recounting here, not only for the bad news in the story, but for the good news as well. A week ago, it appears, the [...]

by Larry Kaufman(Also posted at LarryKaufman.wordpress.com) In Talmud class yesterday at Beth Emet,  Rabbi Knobel was talking about a mishnah that involved the drawing of boundary lines, and I shared the story of Yankel, who was given his choice, as boundary lines were being set, of whether  he wanted the line drawn so as to put his farm in Poland or in Russia.  Without hesitation, he chose Poland, a choice for which his wife afterwards berated him. (So what else is new?)  The Poles are even worse anti-Semites than the Russians, she scolded. Why did you choose Poland? To which Yankel replied, I [...]

by dccThere was a very interesting piece in the New York Times Science section this week about religion. A researcher from the University of Miami found that true believers have better self-control. In keeping with the findings of this study, I will not re-write the article but only give you a taste; I am controlling my bombastic desire to be bearer of news and information. [The researcher's] interest arose from a desire to understand why religion evolved and why it seems to help so many people. Researchers around the world have repeatedly found that devoutly religious people tend to do [...]

By JanetheWriter A short piece on the editorials and letters page in Friday’s New York Times suggests that according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, “the Lower East Side is one of the 11 most endangered places in America…”  The article mentions several neighborhood landmarks, including The Eldridge Street Synagogue  which, following a recently completed multi-million dollar restoration is now known as the Museum at Eldridge Street.  Dating from 1887 and widely known to be the first synagogue built “from scratch” in America by Eastern European Jews, the continuously operational Eldridge Street Synagogue is an architectural, cultural and historical [...]