Here’s a Madison story from the 80s.
The great European Cultural Historian George Mosse came to speak one Friday night at the Jewish Co-Op, a place called Ofek Shalom (Horizon of Peace) which was a warm and friendly throwback to the Sixties Co-Op culture, but occupied not by Havurah Movement types, rather by slightly less idealistic […]
Thanks to Arieh Lebowitz of the Jewish Labor Committee for sending along this Reform Responsa from the CCAR website.
The question, posed by a New Jersey rabbi, asks for guidance over the dilemma that using non-union labor would save synagogue construction costs of up to $300,000.
The responsa concludes that:
In the final analysis, we cannot tell […]
By 11 pm, of the five yahrzeit candles we lit in our house for Yizkor for Shavuot, one was still burning.
Whose?
My father, whose temper flared in his children and grandchildren, long after his flame was extinguished on a cold March day in 1983?
My grandmother, whose lovely but depressed soul joined her beloved in the ground […]
The fire and smoke that surrounded the Mount at the Giving of Torah is nothing compared to what we’re doing to the environment.
Mayor Bloomberg and Councilman David Yassky have announced a new initiative to green the city’s cabs by 2030. You can lend your voice to this effort by signing the petition on David […]
Many of you have been following the story of Toby Pannone’s heroic struggle with cancer and have rolled up your sleeves in extraordinary ways.
Here is another request from the family for blood and platelets during this crucial stage of chemotherapy and transfusions.
You can get the directions on how to contribute off of Toby’s blog.
This mitzvah […]
Dan Smith’s book about the Western history of hearing voices, Muses, Madmen, and Prophets was the perfect jumping off point for a great Torah study discussion this past Shabbat on the nature of authority in the Tradition–especially given the fact that Torah begins with God speaking and then on the sixth day, creating man and […]
A review of the Yiddish film “Joseph in Egypt” in the Forward’s Looking Back this week, tells the hilarious anecdote of a canned Yiddish groan for one of the lip syncing actors in the film, who in fact, didn’t know Yiddish:
“Not only were the images blurry, but the sound was bad, too, and actors’ mouths […]
As June rapidly approaches, it marks the beginning of my twelfth month of service to the community here at Beth Elohim.
It’s been a great year of challenging transitional moments, learning the culture, continually crossing and navigating generational confluences and differences, and, fundamentally doing the work of serving the membership as well as the broader Jewish […]
In last week’s post, Avadim Hayinu, a discussion was inaugurated about the question of labor and workers’ rights within the context of the synagogue.
Beyond the on-line discussion, there have been face to face conversations as well, moving people within the community to a more extended examination of these issues as they relate to the organizational […]
So Park Slope has a little Nazi.
A small, angry Nazi.
I met him this evening.
Returning from an unveiling at a Queens Cemetery, I was parking the car at 8th and Garfield. The little Teuton was crossing the street in front of Shul against the light and I gave him a gentle toot of the horn. […]