David Wolpe is rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and the author of, among other books, Why Be Jewish? and Why Faith Matters. He can be found on Twitter @RabbiWolpe.
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Missed the live event? Catch the recording here of Daniel Johnson speaking live on the secularization of America with David Wolpe and Chris Arnade.
Observation ·
Five more of our regular writers pick several favorites each, featuring what Jews are for, magicians, assassins, call signs, chaos, separated siblings, and more.
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Medieval Spain produced many Jewish geniuses. The poet and philosopher Solomon Ibn Gabirol, born 1000 years ago, wrote poetry that is still sung in synagogues all over the world.
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It's not Maimonides. It's Saadya Gaon, “the first Jewish scholar whose universal mind embraced all the branches of Jewish learning known in his time.”
Observation ·
Bruriah is the only female cited repeatedly as a religious authority, and rarely shown in the roles the Talmud generally associates with women. Who was she?
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Six more Mosaic writers share their favorites, featuring shadow strikes, orchards, gleanings, constitutional evolutions and revolutions, serotonin, odd women, and more.
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Josiah left a permanent stamp on Judaism, leading, for the first time in generations, an all-out battle against idolatry.
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Letters, antidotes, eternal lives, outcasts, secret worlds, pogroms, and more.
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Spy games, catch-67s, lionesses, smugglers, patriots, setting suns, and more.
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Deuteronomy erases the separation between leader and led; for better or for worse, they're yoked together.
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There's a reason the Torah refers to the endlessly complaining Israelites, who need a golden calf to comfort them, as "the children of Israel."
Observation ·
The fire at the core of Leviticus.
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In the Jewish tradition, the summit of religious awareness is to know that God is ultimately unknowable.
Observation ·
And how the solutions help explain the fundamental human condition.
Response ·
Sam Schulman is wrong; same-sex marriage is simple, sacred, and very Jewish indeed
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