Web Bonus: Michael Steinhardt vs. Jewish Organizational Leadership
Click here to watch in High Definition (HD) This is one of those “you’ve gotta see it to believe it” speeches. In front of roughly 50 philanthropists, Jewish professionals and members of the…
CNN reports on a brand new many year old story!
Fail. Yet more evidence that CNN is rather behind the curve…when you basically open up with a paragraph like this, one has to wonder if you are a real news organization or, more…
A Galilee Shabbat
. . The talented Nehemia Gershuni who usually focuses on military subjects in his photos captured this image. More of his stuff can be seen on Flickr. . . . . BW Ruth’s…
Shabbat Tent: The Legend Returns
We just were supersized. Our new shabbat tent at Phish Fest! Check it out! In the Lamb on Broadway site next to camping headquarters! Corner of Carpet Crawlers and Gabriel Eno streets. Thank…
ShivaWatch: Lawrence Halprin Passes Away at 93
Lawrence Halprin, the renowned landscape architect died this week at the age of 93. Born in New York City, he worked on a pre-State kibbutz for three years as a teenager, and then…
(Super) Circumcise Me!
The first time Christopher Campbell converted to Judaism, he changed his name to Yisrael and got circumcised. He became a Reform Jew. The second time he converted to Judaism, he became a Conservative…
Instant Jew’s Ear Fungus
Good to the last drop! The Forward’s Bintel Blog recently reported: Whether this is fungus for an instant Jew or instant ear fungus for the whole tribe, it’s comforting to know that the…
Eli Valley vs the Sway Machinery in the Temple of Self Hatred (NYC)
With special guests Girls In Trouble Our little buddy Eli Valley is performing with JDub Records’ Sway Machinery in a show that will (somehow) combine Sway Machinery’s punk-and-blues-infused cantorial music and Valley’s abrasive,…
What Should a Rabbi Drive II: Test Ride Edition
Vanity Fair car columnist Brett Berk made it to LA, and we followed up on the original story, of my car dilemma. Read the first article, if you haven’t, in order for this…
J Street Conference. New Avenue for Ideas or Dead End, Part 2
The J Street conference reminded me of two recent Torah readings. The first was Bereshit, in which the world is created (and then there was a helluva lot of work required afterwards). And…
You Gotta Admire Jewish Cross-Promotion
And here Muffti is giving it the attention it doesn’t deserve. But he really likes the line about the ‘moral obligations of a celebrity’. Does anyone of our readers know which passage of…
Suburbadox Paradox: Something Larger, Tiny Place
Months ago, I e-mailed a friend (let’s call him Earl) about who-remembers-what. Earl is also a writer, and in addition, works in photography, film, and music. He is waiting for his Big Break,…
J Street: A New Avenue for Ideas or a Dead End? Day 1
Washington DC has a grid of numbers and lettered streets overlayed with diagonal avenues named for U.S. states. There are smaller streets in alphabetic order which ascend in sequence by their numbers of…
Jerusalem Audience Awed by Sderot Girls’ Theater Performance on Rocket Life
Israel Government Press Office Director, calls show “fantastic.” Jerusalem–On Monday night, October 26, the high school girls of the Sderot Media Center Community Treatment Theater performed the dramatic production of Children of Qassam…
J Street Students a Little Confused
The Jerusalem Post reported that the student section of the J Street U national conference voted to remove the words “pro-Israel” from their self-description while keeping the words “pro-peace.” In the original article,…
The Hip Hop Sulha Returns to New York
Jewish and Muslim MCs, beat boxers and spoken word artists are coming together on one stage Wednesday, November 11th at SOBs in New York City for the Hip Hop Sulha. Sponsored in part…
new jersey: only the strong survive
Today, members of the extremist Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church ended their two-day tour of hate in New Jersey. WBC (the God hates Fags & Jews people) added a new slogan to their platform just…
A little Praise for Tablet Magazine
Let’s face it, there’s just too much to read out there. Our local paper for one, the NY Times for another, The Atlantic, New Yorker, Slate and for those of us who enjoy…
Does Taglit Make More Jewish Marriages? Or Did Jared and Ivanka Go on Birthright?
I love Taglit and Birthright Israel. May they double and triple in size and contributions, and may they go from strength to strength. So you can imagine my glee at the most recent…
MK Yuli Edelstien, Minister of Diaspora Affairs LIVE
Brought to you by Leadel.net Leadel Live – Yuli Edelstein from Leadel on Vimeo. Are diaspora Jews at the risk of being lost? Is the emergence of alternative perspectives to Israel/diaspora relations going…
Kosher elk makes for game night
Our pal over at the LA Times, Jerry Hirsch has a great gastronomic delight to share – I thought it was pretty Jewlicious. Game night in the Hirsch household involves a dinner with…
My wedding speech at Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s wedding
I wish the newly-wed couple mazal and bracha. And while I was not asked to perform the wedding (the venerable Rabbi Haskel Lookstein had that honor) I figured that I would pen a…
Soupy Sales, Z”L, Man of a Thousand Pies
As a child, Soupy was one of my favs. I didn’t even know that he was Jewish, or was raised in West Virginia (like my wife’s family). The man was a genius.The Detroit…
Efrat Gosh – Still the Girl to Watch
While everyone was busy with the Presidential Conference in Israel or CMJ in New York, I decided to check out Efrat Gosh at the JCC, which was co-sponsored by Dor Chadash (why they…
