Jewish Blogs

Lincoln’s Time Machine

They say the book is always better than the movie, and for the most part that tends to be true. But when it comes to “Lincoln”, Steven Spielberg’s biopic of Abraham Lincoln, I don’t think that’s the case.The most difficult part of truly understanding history is that we inevitably view the historical figures through our modern sensibilities. Since we didn’t ...

30 Course Tasting Menu with 15 Wines: Gluttony or Kedusha?

Every once in a while you hear complaints about materialism in the frum media, it usually has to do with lavish yeshiva fundraising banquets, expensive pesach hotels in Hawaii and those marble columns that your neighbor in Monsey decided to adorn their ugly house with. These complaints usually have to do with “how can someone do such a thing, when ...

Is Yale President Peter Salovey Jewish?

Yes, Yale President Peter Salovey is a Jew. He is also a psychology professor, a bluegrass musician (see article) and a cousin of my rabbinic teacher, Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Hat tip to Billy for bringing this to our attention. Here is an article from the Yale Daily News that describes the president’s rabbinic relationships.Salovey’s rabbinic legacyBY AHRON SINGERIn 19th-century ...

Why History is not Just About the Past

A fire blazes through a garment factory. The building has too few exits and not enough fire escapes. Fire equipment cannot reach the fire. More than 100 people—many of them young women—die. Bodies, burnt beyond recognition, line the floor of a government building, awaiting identification.If you’re thinking, “I know that story—it happened at New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Company in 1911,” ...

Times: Mindful Golf Works

The New York Times in Keeping Your Eye on the Ball reports on studies that prove what we already knew for years, to wit, if you watch the ball at impact as you drive or swing or putt, you will hit a good shot:Training yourself to keep your eye on the ball — which most of us don’t actually do, ...

Tasty Treat: Talking Shop with Smitten Kitchen’s Deb Perelman

Just before my favorite holiday last week, I sat down with the prolific food-blogger-turned-cookbook-author Deb Perelman. The founder of the Smitten Kitchen was recently given a spot on the Forward 50 and is currently touring the U.S. to promote her new book, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Wisdom from an Obsessive Home Cook. Next week, I will post more ...

Apparently I Was Supposed to Announce my Temporary Vacation

In the blog world people need constant content and if they don’t get that content they typically don’t visit your site. Of course, I was surprised last month when my pay per click advertising was at it’s regular rate and so I went into my stats to take a look and it appeared that 2,000 people a day still thought ...

Our Disproof of Heaven

We read a puff piece in the Times today about “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife” by Dr. Eben Alexander III, “Readers Join Doctor’s Journey to the Afterworld’s Gates.”We also read a slam of the book on Salon, “Dr. Eben Alexander’s so-called afterlife. A doctor says he proves heaven’s existence in his bestselling book. Is that a symptom of ...

Should Shuls be Welcoming Places?

I used to judge a shuls friendliness factor purely based on the amount of meal invites I received during davening. I used to come on in take a seat and literally wait for people to come up to me to say good shabbos and throw some free food my way, but recently I started thinking a bit more into the ...

Playing Golf with My Deceased Uncle

My Uncle Jerry passed away in February 2009 and I miss him every day. However, I seem to miss his presence more over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend which comes to a close today. Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday and we always spent it together. I recently wrote this tribute about him and how he influenced me to start playing golf. ...

We’re Grateful For… Having Come A Long Way, Baby

As we approach this year’s Thanksgiving, I asked some of the JWA staff members how far they’ve come—personally or politically, culturally or collectively—and how that’s inspired a sense of gratitude. Here is a sampling from Etta King, Michelle Cash, Stephen Benson, and Ellen Rothman.Etta King, Education Program ManagerThis year, I am truly grateful for my social network. Over the past ...

Victoria’s Secret, Shabbos Walks, and Interrogating Rape Cultures

I love guerilla feminism. And I love that this group of feminists from Baltimore used online guerilla feminism to critique Victoria’s Secret and promote consent. And I’m not the only one who loves this stuff! I love the celebration of consent. I love the celebration of bodies. I love the way in which the campaign directly connects the concept of ...