Today's Fresh Blogs...

• The Long Tzitzis

  Published: August 9, 2007, 9:06 am

  Tags: Establishment Jewry, Indie Minyanim, Identity Affiliation, Media, Denominations

  So I’m here with the gang at NHC ‘tute, and not surprisingly there’s been a fair bit of discussion on “our generation” and why our Judaism looks so different from the previous generations. Day before yesterday, 40 or 50 of us looked at The Continuity of Discontinuity, a report about just that. We discussed the

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• Reform Teens Revolt

  Published: August 12, 2007, 2:15 pm

  Tags: Establishment Jewry, Identity Affiliation, Ritual, Denominations

  From The Jewish Week: Warwick, N.Y. The sun was setting at the Reform movement's teen leadership camp in this picturesque upstate town, and in the dying light of a sweet summer day it was time for the evening prayer service. In the lakeside pavilion that serves as Kutz Camp's synagogue, the visiting musician who led the evening service on the

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• YOUR HEAD A SPLODE

  Published: August 13, 2007, 9:33 pm

  Tags: Establishment Jewry, Kiruv, Music, Ritual, Denominations

  (Crossposted to Mah Rabu.) This Jewish Week article, which LastTrumpet already posted, is making my head explode for all kinds of different reasons. So I’m posting a line-by-line fisking of the article, to attempt to enumerate all the things wrong with it, though I’m probably just scratching the surface. Unlike previous articles

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• Reform Reaches Out to Teens Through Nascar

  Published: August 14, 2007, 6:23 pm

  Tags: Humor, Denominations

  In an effort to shore up interest in the Reform Movement among rebellious, teenage boys, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, yesterday urged Reform Jewish leaders to consider promoting annual Nascar trips for teenage youth. Look, there is this misconception that the Reform Movement is the easy listening jazz movement,

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• Kibbutz revival?

  Published: September 2, 2007, 9:06 pm

  Tags: Culture, Counterculture, Renewal, Socialism, Denominations, Ethics, Israel

  A few days ago, the New York Times ran an article describing the apparent renewal of kibbutzim in Israel. After years of decline, beginning inthe 1980’s, recently, people are again lining up to get into kibbutzim. The article points out a couple of interesting things, one of which is explicit: that the renewed kibbutzim are not quite (for

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• Samsonblinded Blinded By Ignorance

  Published: September 18, 2007, 12:16 am

  Tags: Hareidim, Chabad, Chassidut, Blogroll, Rosh Hashanah, Christianity, Ritual, Denominations, Antisemitism, Holidays, Torah, Halakha, Religion

  Thank you Nikol for ruining my day. Well, maybe not for ruining it but certainly for injecting a sour note. In a response to my post earlier today about Yidcore’s new “shteller” (position) you wrote; “That's all fine. What, however, do you think about Obadiah Shoher's criticism pf Rosh Hashanah as a holiday that has nothing

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• The Heirs of Slytherin II, maybe not

  Published: October 18, 2007, 11:23 am

  Tags: Racism, Coexistence, Identity Affiliation, Denominations, North America

  Those who are following BZ’s post about the Syrian community’s alleged refusal to accept properly converted Jews (which is itself, at least one, if not several, violations of halacha) might want to take a gander at Gil Student’s post on Hirhurim, which has a letter refuting the charge from Rabbi Moshe Shamah. The gist is: That

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• Another Bitch-slap to the Rabbinate

  Published: October 18, 2007, 11:03 am

  Tags: Kiruv, Establishment Jewry, Hareidim, Identity Affiliation, Denominations, Israel

  According to Ha’aretz, another challenge to the Chief Rabbinate has popped up. Last month I blogged on the reaction to the scandalous no-heter for shmitta matter(and here); a group called Tzohar had announced that it would simply go around the Rabbinate. Well, they’re at it again. 45 rabbis from Tzohar and an unspecified smattering of

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• Chabad & Reform Have It Out

  Published: November 7, 2007, 1:24 am

  Tags: Chabad, Denominations, Education, Establishment Jewry, Identity Affiliation

  In the last issue of Reform Judaism Magazine, R. Eric Yoffie, the president of the URJ, cited Chabad’s willingness to celebrate the Bar/Bat Mitzvah of any Jewish child as problematic: Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox synagogues routinely require families that want their child to have a bar/bat mitzvah to meet certain requirements the son

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• Chabad & Reform have it out

  Published: November 7, 2007, 1:22 am

  Tags: Chabad, Denominations, Education, Establishment Jewry, Identity Affiliation

  In the last issue of Reform Judaism Magazine, R. Eric Yoffie, the president of the URJ, cited Chabad’s willingness to celebrate the Bar/Bat Mitzvah of any Jewish child as problematic: Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox synagogues routinely require families that want their child to have a bar/bat mitzvah to meet certain requirements the son

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• NYT on Indie Minyanim

  Published: November 28, 2007, 12:05 am

  Tags: Denominations, Establishment Jewry, Identity Affiliation, Indie Minyanim, Media, Post Denom, Synagogues

  In non-Annapolis news, the Times this morning reports: Without a building and budget, Tikkun Leil Shabbat is one of the independent prayer groups, or minyanim, that Jews in their 20s and 30s have organized in the last five years in at least 27 cities around the country. They are challenging traditional Jewish notions of prayer, community and

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• JSpot on the USCJ Biennial

  Published: December 3, 2007, 5:25 pm

  Tags: Denominations, Establishment Jewry, Religion

  Rabbi Jill Jacobs is liveblogging the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Biennial over at JSpot. Check it out for reporting on reactions to the Heksher [sic] Tzedek project, rumblings about the indie minyan survey, and some stats about the age and gender breakdown at the conference. Share This

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• Celebrating a Year

  Published: December 5, 2007, 6:41 am

  Tags: Denominations, Modern, Queer Culture, Religion

  One year ago today, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) began its final deliberations on whether or not to ordain openly gay and lesbian rabbis. On December 6 the CJLS approved three teshuvot (rabbinic responsa): the Dorff, Nevins, Reisner teshuvah (which passed by a majority of 13 votes and permitted gay ordination), the Roth

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• RRC Head on Post-Denominationalism

  Published: December 5, 2007, 5:04 pm

  Tags: Denominations, Post Denom

  This past weekend I was in Philadelphia for the semi-annual board meeting of JRF, the synagogue arm of the Reconstructionist movement. The first part of the board meeting was a presentation by Dan Ehrenkrantz, the president of RRC. Dan’s wisdom and foresight rivals the difficulty one has spelling his name in magnitude. Dan was asked to

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• Reform Jews want davening and Shabbos dinner

  Published: December 12, 2007, 11:58 pm

  Tags: Denominations, Establishment Jewry

  JTA reports: Leaders of Reform synagogues don’t always get what their members want, according to a new study by the movement. The study shows a marked disconnect in several areas between what the leaders think their members are looking for and what the members say they actually want. In general, the synagogue leaders seem to underestimate

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