Last month, a set of advertisements aimed at encouraging the return of Israelis living abroad, were removed from the Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption’s YouTube channel. As a part of a resolution adopted by the government in 2010, these advertisements…
Survivors’ Message Immortalized Through Storytelling
Leon Weinstein and his daughter Natalie Gold Lumer in a loving embrace. (photo by Clifford Lester/Jewish Journal)A 101 year-old man died on December 28th, 2011 in his bedroom in the early hours of the morning. His daughter, a phone call…
RCA repudiates position on reparative therapy for queer Jews
Rabbinical Council of America president Rabbi Schmuel Goldin issued a statement on Monday dispelling allegations that the RCA has taken a stand on reparative therapy for Jews with unwanted same-sex attraction. The RCA website has previously listed an organization called…
The Day the Buses Stood Still
Israel needs America – financially, diplomatically, and militarily. It’s a fact. So when U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton makes an observation, even about a relatively minor point of domestic policy, Israelis tend to sit up and listen. That is…
Rabbinic Authorities Flex Muscles in Response to “Gay Orthodox Wedding”
Last week, over 100 Orthodox rabbis around the world added their signatures to a declaration condemning a recent event that the media identified as an “same-sex Orthodox wedding.” On November 6, Yeshiva University-ordained Rabbi Steven Greenberg, known to many as the…
Fear & Loathing in Washington Heights
The winds of scandal were blowing in full force across the Jewish world last week. An article printed in an online publication run by Yeshiva University students became the centre of controversy, and the school demanded that the article be removed.…
Rabbi Chaim Addresses Trends In Jewish Academic Success
“Parents’ Weekend at UCLA” revealed many of the intimate details of Jewish life on campus. One of these details was the extent to which our leadership takes note of our involvement and progress within the greater UCLA community. On Friday…
Halloween and Judaism: a contradiction or a coalition?
Halloween—the night of disguised merriment and childhood dreams. The night where it doesn’t matter if you were an all-star on your high school baseball team, genius enough to discover the theory of relativity, or had the body of an angel—you…
Plaskow’s feminist theology lacks one thing — Theology
Welcome back to Steiner’s Two Cents — the section in which I probe the interaction between feminism and Judaism as it is filtered through traditional text. Last week, I assessed Moshe Meiselman’s “Jewish Woman in Jewish Law,” which, in my opinion,…
Jewish Ideals Stand Strong Amidst Occupy Wall Street Anti-Semitism
What began on September 17th, 2011 at Zuccotti Park in New York City as a protest against purportedly greedy Wall Street executives has become a global mutiny of epic proportions. As of October 20th, demonstrators in nearly one thousand cities…