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Maher Holds No Religion as Sacred

I don’t like Bill Maher and don’t like him even more after hearing about his documentary, “Religulous”. I appreciate some of the humor from comedians such as George Carlin and Jackie Mason. The difference between Carlin’s and Mason’s humor and a despicable film such as Religulous is the following. Carlin and Mason allow us to laugh […]

A Different Sermon for the Holidays

Jewish Week features a fabulous article on the Hekhsher Tzedek movement which will certainly be a sermon topic for the High Holy Days. At a time when pews are filled up in synagogues throughout the country, rabbis are planning to address this movement which many of the Jewish faith are now embracing.

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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Ahmadinejad - a danger everywhere except the Tehran Times

Written by Michael Vass
When considering the recent visit of Mahmud Ahmadinejad to the United Nations this week I looked at what was released by the Tehran Times on the subject. I wanted to see how they were viewing the trip and how they might be informing their people of how it was going.
This is a […]

What’s Irish/Italian American, Orthodox Jewish, on Broadway and funny?

Written by Michael Vass
Comedy is timeless. It is as much of the human condition as breathing, it can be found in every culture and continent. I even was reading about some Ancient jokes going back to the pharaohs of Egypt and before…
“How do you get the Pharaoh to go out? But several maidens on a […]

Zohan and Restless - films of a changing Israel and Zionism?

Written by Michael Vass
It’s not often that I can recall an Adam Sandler comedic movie being referred to as an important window on the state of Israel or Judaism. In fact I don’t recall ever having read that kind of comparison. Until now.
Adam Sandler’s latest film You Don’t Mess With The Zohan deals with an […]

Blacks Drawn to Judaism

At Congregation Shearith Israel, almost half of the people studying Judaism are blacks. At another Jewish Community Center in Dunwoody, Georgia, roughly 20 percent of the people enrolled in the introduction to Judaism classes are black. Many synagogues and Jewish community centers throughout the country are seeing this trend.
In a recent article on the issues […]

Vegetarian-Based Shabbat

We were contacted by the Jewish Vegetarians of North America recently  to explain a movement in which the organization is urging synagogues and Jewish institutions to support next weekend’s annual Vegetarian Shabbat.
The group stated that a shift to plant-based diets would also best apply fundamental Jewish mandates which include:

To take care of your health
Treat animal compassionately
Protect […]

Einstein Letter Sells for Over $400,000

A letter in which Einstein challenged Jews as the chosen ones sold for $404,000 at an auction in London. Einstein has mistakenly been categorized as an atheist but those who knew him best said that he would be better categorized as a “curious agnostic”.
Unlike many of his intellectual contemporaries, Einstein was most curious about the complexities […]