Jewish Holidays and Culture

Welcome to the world, baby boy

December 4, 2021

My wife, Jody, and I joined a club that we really wanted entrance to – the grandparents club. Here’s what I said at the brit milah ceremony.

Read the full article →

Jews are not white: Race and identity in Israel and the U.S.

November 21, 2021

Should Jews and Israelis be considered “white supremacists?” Are Jews from Arab countries “white?” If so, then who are the people of color?

Read the full article →

God and dinosaurs

June 5, 2021

Does Judaism believe that God planted fake dinosaur fossils in the earth to explain how dinosaurs could exist when the world is only 6,000 years old?

Read the full article →

Does God still demand “costly signaling?”

March 26, 2021

Pre-Passover reading: Does God still demand “costly signaling?” How halacha evolves and why that can help us lighten up this Pesach.

Read the full article →

Why I can no longer daven in an Orthodox synagogue

November 9, 2019

Here’s why I no longer daven in mechitzah minyans: It’s a symbol signaling that separate roles for men and women are immutable and eternal. I say no!

Read the full article →

Datlashim: can there be a second generation?

August 4, 2019

Last year, I wrote a column that asked the question: “how do datlashim – the Hebrew acronym for formerly religious Jews – want to raise their children?” The main response I received during the course of my research: “to be just like them”– that is, to also be datlashim. This poses a dilemma, as to […]

Read the full article →

What I learned from Facebook about God

June 10, 2019

How a Facebook conspiracy theory helped me understand why some people, when confronted with cosmic questions like the Big Bang, say “God made it.”

Read the full article →

Judaism’s honesty problem

January 6, 2019

Does Judaism actually encourage dishonesty? Two stories from Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz during a talk at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.

Read the full article →

My problem with Maoz Tzur

December 9, 2018

Do those who live their lives according to a strict reading of the biblical narrative have a greater propensity to seek revenge?

Read the full article →

Religion as complementary medicine

October 15, 2018

I’ve been looking at religion all wrong. Does religion need to make sense rationally? Or is it more like complementary medicine – a cultural placebo?

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries