Gary Rosenblatt

A Shul Where Everyone Knows Your Name

Growing up as the rabbi’s son at the only synagogue in town.

Gary Rosenblatt
05/24/2011
1953 graduation:Rabbi Morris Rosenblatt, the author¹s father, served four decades as a chaplain at the U.S. Naval Academy.

One Yom Kippur day during my teen years in Annapolis, Md., just after the Musaf service, an elderly member approached me in the lobby of the synagogue.

She wanted to know how old the youngster was who had just joined his father and uncle for the first time in blessing the congregation with the Birchat Kohanim, the priestly benediction.

“He just had his bar mitzvah,” I told her.

Read more »
Read more:

Bibi’s Blunder: The Mideast’s Mr. No

Submitted by Gary Rosenblatt on Sun, 05/22/2011 - 12:49

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had an excellent response to President Obama’s major speech on the Arab world and the Israel-Palestinian conflict. But it came two days too late, and the net result is another hasbara disaster for Jerusalem.

Netanyahu said on Saturday that Obama had “shown his commitment to Israel’s security, both in word and deed,” in Thursday’s Presidential speech, adding: “We are working with the administration to achieve common goals.”

Read more »
Read more:

Why The Chief Rabbi Isn’t At LimmudUK

Submitted by Gary Rosenblatt on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 11:23

Coventry, England – One of the most impressive aspects of LimmudUK, which seeks to educate, inspire and entertain people on their Jewish journeys, is its open tent policy, accounting for more than 2,000 participants at this year’s five-day conference.

But not every element of British Jewry is represented at this grassroots, volunteer-driven event, and it’s curious to see who is not here.

Read more »
Read more:

Israel's 'self-delegitimization,' apartheid and the settlement building boom

Submitted by James Besser on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 10:00

I was going to blog about about Ethan Bronner's report in the New York Times last week on the new West Bank settlement boom and the fact that it is happening “especially in more remote communities that are least likely to be part of Israel after any two-state peace deal,&rd

Read more »
Read more:

Rabbi Tells Students Not to Comment on Blogs or Website Articles

Submitted by Rabbi Jason Miller on Thu, 12/23/2010 - 12:50
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner says stay away from talkbacks and blog commenting

The more I blog, the thicker my skin gets. Overtime, I've learned to prepare myself before reading the comment section at the bottom of my posts. With great inventions, we have to take the bad with the good. It's been wonderful that newspapers and magazines make their articles available to us on the Web, but it also means that individuals can post outrageous, defaming, and insulting comments underneath each article -- opinions that would never be published in a print edition.

Read more »
Read more:

Tolerance, Tradition Collide In Same-Sex Union Row

Gary Rosenblatt

N.J. paper’s about-face raises a myriad of thorny questions.

10/13/2010
Gary Rosenblatt
Editor And Publisher

In light of the controversy in recent days over whether or not Jewish community newspapers should publish same-sex union announcements, I have an admission to make.

More than three decades ago, the Jewish newspaper I edited in Baltimore became the first to publish a same-sex announcement.

Read more »
Read more:

My (Almost) Interview With Abbas

Submitted by Gary Rosenblatt on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 11:35

It’s not that unusual for a planned interview to fall through at the last minute.

The three things different about the one that got away from me this week, though, was that it was with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, I didn’t initiate it, and the contact came from a Jewish organization.

The idea was for Abbas, who was coming to New York this week for the UN General Assembly, to improve his image in the American Jewish community, according to Zvika Krieger, senior vice president of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Mideast Peace, in Washington.

Read more »
Read more:

Israel’s UN Ambassador Leaving When Needed Most

Submitted by Gary Rosenblatt on Thu, 08/19/2010 - 18:18

The government of Israel will be losing a key and effective diplomat in New York just when it needs her most.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev, highly praised for her low-key, thoughtful and compassionate work these last two years, is returning to Israel and her academic life at the end of this month on the eve of what some Israeli officials here are already predicting will be a “Black September” for the Jewish state at the UN.

Read more »
Read more:

"Off the Mark" on Rotem Conversion Bill

08/11/2010
Rabbi Alan Silverstein and David H. Lissy

Gary Rosenblatt does not hesitate to tackle difficult matters, but his latest column about the Rotem Conversion Bill is off the mark.

For more than 15 years, as well as in our several meetings with MK David Rotem, we have emphasized our strong desire to address the issue of the status of olim from the former Soviet Union. There are multiple ways in which the situation could be meaningfully addressed.

Read more »
Read more:
Syndicate content