JBC News of Interest – 02/23/11
Hi all, Sorry it’s been a while since we’ve posted a news roundup. Between working on podcast related issues and site maintenance, Avi and I have been pretty busy. So… off we go. There have been several stories recently dealing with the ongoing conversion train wreck crisis in Israel. In one example published in Ha’aretz, a Canadian who converted via a Modern Orthodox community with the intention of moving to Israel with his wife – an Israeli herself – and their children, was … [Read more…]
JBC News of Interest – 1/9/11
Several media outlets have reported that Rabbi Alysa Stanton, the first African-American female rabbi, has not had her contract renewed for her first pulpit at a Reform congregation in Greenville, North Carolina. Rabbi Stanton made headlines when she was the first African-American woman ordained as a rabbi by the Hebrew Union College, and indeed, the first in America (the world?). Haaretz reported on the story here, and Time magazine did a story on Rabbi Stanton shortly after her ordination … [Read more…]
JBC News of Interest – 12/13/10
Here’s your news and interesting article round-up for this week. The podcast over on the Tablet Magazine site has an interesting offering on one Luzer Twersky, a young Satmar Chassid who has become a secular Jew over the last year. The podcast explores the challenges Mr. Twersky experienced – and still is – as he transitions from an insular, shtetl-like lifestyle to a modern Jewish life in the secular world. It is an interesting story on many levels. Tablet also has an interesting print … [Read more…]
JBC News of Interest – 11/22/10
Happy Thanksgiving (if you celebrate)! This week’s news wrap up has some interesting stuff to read, so let’s jump right in… The first piece in this week’s roundup is from The Jewish Week, where Rabbi Yehuda Gilad of Yeshivat Maale Gilboa and the Rabbi of Kibbutz Lavi, both in Israel, wrote a great essay on the implosion of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. On this issue, Jews by Choice of nearly all stripes share common cause with the religious Zionist/דתי לאומי community, as the … [Read more…]
JBC News of Interest – 11/09/10
My apologies for the brief hiatus – here is a round-up of some recent and interesting stories out there in the Jewish web universe. Rabbi Avi Weiss of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale was the subject of a piece in Moment Magazine, in which the author, Sarah Breger, highlights questions about whether or not “Open Orthodoxy”, and specifically ordaining women as “Rabba”, will cause this group to become another movement. In a somewhat related … [Read more…]