So, now on top of all the Jewish reading I’m doing (or not doing), I’m reading Moment Magazine. Yeah, yeah, I should be reading Torah but check out this interview with cartoonist Robert Mankoff telling us all why Jewish humor is unique.
A rabbi once told me that talking about intermarriage from the pulpit was a pretty bad idea all around. Too many rabbis have done it and assumed that the audience is homogeneous, a group of Jews that does not include converts, Jewish children of interfaith couples, Jewish children with non-Jewish and intermarried relatives and even… Continue reading Talking about Assimilation
“The JFS mess was avoidable” (The Jewish Chronicle of London) Geoffrey Alderman explains why the Chief Rabbi of London could have prevented all the recent misery at JFS and looks at the (rather ridiculous) “Certificate of Religious Practice” now required from all parents who wish their children to be considered for admission to JFS in… Continue reading Another Conversion News Roundup!
A delicious sampling of the latest news in Jewish conversion! “Shas MK: Ease Conversion for IDF Soldiers of Jewish Descent” (Israeli National News) At some point during the conversion process, I heard that things went a lot smoother if you had a Jewish father or some kind of Jewish ancestry. Too bad I couldn’t unearth… Continue reading Conversion in the News Roundup: Because the "Who is a Jew?" question is now an extreme sport!
“Playing the ‘anti-Semitism’ card (hate that term) against Venezuela” says things between Jews and Latin America are more complicated than the American media is telling us. Could it be true? Well, anything’s possible but….
Writing about yourself, your friends and family is your bread and butter when you’re a nonfiction writer. But it gets rather tricky. Most of my friends and family are very, very, very (very!) private. And so for the most part, no one’s interested in seeing themselves in the limelight much less a critical one. I’ve… Continue reading Writing About Your Life
According to family lore, before some of ancestors became Dominican, they were Venezuelan. The reasons why the Venezuelan part of our family hopped over to the Dominican Republic have been lost in family history. Who knows why people pick up and leave the country of their birth? Well, it’s no secret why Jews are leaving… Continue reading Venezuelan Jews Flee to Miami
Miss Dominican Republic Ada Aimee De La Cruz was first runner up in the Miss Universe 2009 contest.
My response to a piece on Benjamin Cardozo in last week’s Jewish Week made it into this week’s issue. Check it out: My Letter to the Editor.
Jewish Infighting “Who will carry the torch for Jewish unity?” (The Jewish Chronicle) Simon Rock asks, “How can we preserve Jewish peoplehood if we can’t agree who is a Jew?” A very good question! His article gives a good, if long-winded, look at the obstacles that currently impede Jewish unity. “Racists, Fascists, Self-hating Jews and… Continue reading Jews in the News: The Latest on Conversion, Jews, Movies and More
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 