Okay, now I’m annoyed.
Just when all I really want to do is continue this conversation about Shabbat (if you want a copy of Plaut’s article, let me know and I’ll send you one; or, stop by my office and pick one up) the world in trouble intrudes! The nerve!
Can’t I […]

By the 1870s in America, the one aspect of Shabbat observance that was perceived of as within the “rabbinic reach” of liberal leadership was attendance at Shabbat services. And so, the “radical remedial measures were the consequence of this dilemma, and both were for some time the cause for bitter intramural controversy,” according to […]

Speaking before his colleagues in 1965, Rabbi Gunther Plaut argued in favor of a Reform movement restoration of the Sabbath that, forty years later, has yet to be achieved. This probably comes as no surprise to people, given the Reform movement’s location on the most permissive end of the Jewish religious spectrum. After […]

Here is a moving tribute to the power of museums to play a role in the political and humanitarian challenges facing us.
The US Holocaust Museum is projecting images from Darfur on its facade, a really powerful gesture and worth a look.

Now how you going to explain this one?
You can’t very well create a “rebranding campaign” to right this kind of wrong: Israeli settlements sit atop a large percentage of privately held Palestinian land? And this information from the Israeli government’s Civil Administration database?
Other looks at this story are found in Yediot and Haaretz.
This […]

For your weekend pleasure, check out the new Lucian Freud exhibit. It’s always an occasion worth celebrating when we can see the master at work.
Then cross town and head over to Andrea Meislin’s Gallery for a quick look at Leora Laor’s work, which is equally spectacular.

A Brooklyn shout-out to CBE members and Brooklyn Jews Rachel Dretzin and her husband and filmmaking partner Barak Goodman for their excellent portrayal of former Spokane Mayor Jim West which appeared on Frontline last night on PBS.
For those interested in good journalism around the issue of politics and sexuality and want to grasp […]

Sorry to move back to this folks. I know we’d rather not discuss it.
But the other thing that reviewers seem to be missing about Jeffrey Goldberg’s Prisoners is how brutally honest he is regarding the horrifying conditions of his service as an Israeli soldier.
Goldberg captures the reality of service from all its ugly sides […]

The look of horror spreading across their faces was enough evidence. We had crossed a road and now had to deal with it.
The family has been watching clips from Fiddler on the Roof; and when Tevye rejects one of his daughter’s Chava for marrying “outside the Faith” (wait–I thought it was Tradition?!) my own […]

It’s very important to close the loop here, so we are officially bringing to a close this humble blog’s concern for a Jewish presidential candidate in 2008: Russell Feingold has decided not to run for the White House.
No surprise here, really. And as usual, it’s encouraging to see a career politician make decisions, […]