Editorial & Opinion | Gary Rosenblatt

URJ Overhauling The Bar/Bat Mitzvah

06/19/2012 | Gary Rosenblatt | Editor and Publisher | Gary Rosenblatt

Simon Kuh didn’t chant a Haftorah for his bar mitzvah several Shabbat mornings ago at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills. Instead, the 13-year-old reported on his recent ride alone on a city bus, the 720 Wilshire, across Los Angeles on a Friday at rush hour “to see my city from a different perspective.”

A Community Pulling Apart?

06/12/2012 | Gary Rosenblatt | Editor and Publisher | Gary Rosenblatt

The new 10-year study of the Jewish population of New York presents a major challenge to UJA-Federation, which commissioned the survey, because the research indicates that our community is moving sharply in two opposite directions: very engaged Jewishly (but not necessarily communally) and decreasingly interested in Jewish life.

Raining On The Parade

06/05/2012 | Gary Rosenblatt | Editor and Publisher | Gary Rosenblatt

To be clear: I have been a big booster of the Celebrate Israel parade, personally and professionally, for many years, and once again felt a real sense of pride on Sunday afternoon watching the waves of youngsters carrying banners and singing Hebrew songs as they marched up Fifth Avenue.

Putting ‘Tikkun Olam’ To The Ultimate Test

05/29/2012 | Gary Rosenblatt | Editor And Publisher | Gary Rosenblatt

A century after the publication of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” the anti-Semitic Russian hoax claiming Jews were seeking to take over the world, a small group of Israeli and American Jews — think of them as The Youngers of Zion — has spent the last 18 months formulating what it calls “an audacious plan” to repair the world.

Ruth’s Conversion Would Be Rejected Today

05/22/2012 | Gary Rosenblatt | Editor And Publisher | Gary Rosenblatt

At a time when we are keenly aware of the deep divisions within the Jewish community on issues from religious practice to the policies of the State of Israel, along comes the festival of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, with the most unifying theme in Jewish life: the giving of the Torah, the central, foundational text of our history and people, at Mount Sinai.

Closer To Home: Of Baseball, Faith And Family

05/15/2012 | Gary Rosenblatt | Editor And Publisher | Gary Rosenblatt

When I was growing up, baseball was all about fathers and sons.

I am grateful that my Dad transmitted his love of the game to my older brother and me, and am reminded of it each spring, when the promise of a new season still fills me with childlike excitement.