Windows and Doors

I love the New York Times’ Dining section.  Each Wednesday, I look forward to reading the articles and reviews, most of which food and drink that I can’t eat because it’s not kosher.  But not consuming and nor appreciating are two entirely different things.  In fact, there is a long-standing debate in rabbinic tradition about…

Like the old Levy’s rye bread commercial said, “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Larry”.  Okay, they said “to love Levy’s”, but you get the point.  And it’s true, that you don’t need to be Jewish to love either, but in the case of the Larry David Show, whose eighth season on HBO…

I wish it were surprising but it is not.  The cartoon published by Richard Falk, United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, is not only anti-Semitic, as charged by ADL head Abe Foxman, it is also obviously anti-American.  But the worst thing about the cartoon is that it is not surprising.…

Broadway’s hottest new musical is the Book of Mormon, and in the wake of its triumph at the Tony Awards, the temperature continues to rise – as it should.  There are many reasons to like the play, but the most interesting is that it figures how to laugh with religion, not at it. Faith needs…

Today marks the 44th anniversary of Israel’s re-unification/liberation/conquest/occupation of Jerusalem. I use all of those terms, not because I agree that they are all necessarily equally legitimate claims, but because they are equally real to different people — all of whom have deep interest in the city, and some of whom shape global events based…

As Jerusalem Day begins, I share these reflections on the holy city – what it means and what it has meant to different people and different traditions.  Like the city itself, the various comments both compliment and contradict each other.  My personal reflections for this Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, will be posted later. “For three…

Millions of Americans will head to beaches and barbecues this Memorial Day weekend, perhaps even hundreds of millions, while only hundreds of thousands are likely to attend formal Memorial Day observances devoted to remembering the men and women who have given their lives so that the rest of us could live in safety and have…

Wednesday May 25, 2011 the lights will dim in the First Church of Oprah as the Oprah Winfrey Show ends a run began in 1986.  Surprised by that formulation?  Shocked that I would call the show a kind of church?  Well, there is no question that Oprah created a kind of religion over the past…

Okay, to be fair, that is a somewhat hyperbolic question, and one which nobody can claim to have proof or even scientific evidence for.  Of course, that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.  It simply means that the endless debates about that question being answerable through science are really a waste of time.  Not a waste…

First San Francisco, now Santa Monica — the attempt to make circumcision illegal, including those performed for religious reasons, is spreading.  Both cities, one last week and the other just today, have movements to get measures on their respective city’s November ballots which would make circumcision illegal.  While these are the two most aggressive attempts…

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