News and Politics

An Orthodox Jewish Case for Marriage Equality

By Rabbi Steven Greenberg

Now that there are churches and synagogues that perform and hold sacred same-sex vows, the state cannot choose to reject these marriages any more than it can reject marriages that I, as an Orthodox rabbi, would not perform because one partner is a Jew and another a Christian.

Life and Action

Do We Still Need Jewish Feminism?

By Jo Ellen Green Kaiser

Within the United States, egalitarianism has become the baseline practice for the majority of American Jews. While the salaries and status of women Jewish professionals still lags below those of men, in the specifically religious arena, Jewish-American feminists have seen our most extraordinary dreams fulfilled. Do we still need Jewish feminism?

Arts and Culture

New Jew

By Racelle Rosett

Nina Shepard had been a Jew for fifteen minutes. She sat at her table at the Ivy and regarded her soft-shell crab.

Faith and Practice

Judaism 2030: Visions of a Jewish Tomorrow

By Jay Michaelson

This past week, the Jewish Outreach Institute hosted a conference entitled “Judaism 2030: A Working Conference for a Vibrant Jewish Future and the Steps Necessary to Get Us There.”

Faith and Practice

My Daughter’s Period Party

By Rabbi Haviva Ner-David

My second daughter, Meira, got her period for the first time earlier this year, right before her bat mitzvah. With her older sister, Michal, we had initiated a new family ritual of a “period party” – but this time, things were different.

Media and Tech

Is Post-Rapture Looting Permitted on Shabbos?

Halachic advice for potential left-behinds in case of global apocalypse.

Arts and Culture

Digging in the Dirt... in Israel and L.A.

By Stacie Chaiken

Stacie Chaiken writes, “I cannot simplify my relationship with Israel any more than I can simplify my relationship with my mother.” Read an excerpt from her solo play “The Dig” here, and see it in person at the Zeek L.A. Launch Event on Thursday, May 12.

Arts and Culture

The Listener: Memory, Lies, Art, Power

By Paul Buhle

Holocaust literature must now exceed hundreds of thousands of volumes, the rise of Hitler to power in Germany itself thousands more tomes, but comic art has been sparse. David Lester’s new volume is a remarkable contribution to the genre.

Faith and Practice

How the Jewish Prayer Service Resembles Pentecostal Worship

By Sharon Alexander

Most visitors to a mainstream Jewish prayer service would not typically describe what they witness as “ecstatic.” But the structure of the service has interesting parallels to Evangelical and charismatic services.