Steven M. Cohen

Sorry for being such a negligent blogger this summer, but it’s been a quiet season in terms of In The Mix-y news — while at the same time busy in other respects.

Forgot those 50 rabbis Newsweek has been fussing over.

Journalist/author Peter Beinart may well be the most famous American Jew these days, at least among the New York Times-New York Review of Books-New Yorker-reading intelligentsia.

The Conservative movement recently conducted a survey of hundreds of its rabbis and the results are in: on the whole, they're as committed to Israel as they've ever been, although younger rabbis have more liberal views about the state than they've used to.  The purpose behind this survey is clear: to assure anxious Jewish leaders that, contra the skeptics, Israel remains as vital a part of Jewish life as ever.

I’ve been covering Jewish education for almost 15 years and have interviewed countless people telling me about the myriad challenges (not to mention the financial investment required) of maintaining and passing on our illustrious Jewish traditions.

For interfaith families alone, there is an entire cottage industry of websites like this and this brimming with suggestions, resources, how-to’s and so on for learning about and transmitting our aforementioned traditions.

You know how people always say that pregnant women have a certain “radiance” or “glow” to them?

Well, I swear my 8-year-old daughter Ellie has returned from her first-ever overnight camp experience with a similar glow. And no, I’m not worried she’s pregnant. She’s just very happy, and in less than six days has become visibly more independent, confident and mature. Not to mention tanner.

Being an opinionated blogger whilst also being an objective reporter can be a little tricky.

One day I am writing about why I don’t send my kids to Jewish day school, and later in the week I’m interviewing day school administrators — and parents who are grappling with whether or not to keep their children in day school or instead try out a Hebrew charter school.

I admit it.

I abandoned my husband and children for four days to jet off to sunny California, and I don’t regret it one bit. Worse still, I abandoned Ye Olde Blogge for a full week, a transgression for which traveling, alas, no longer offers an adequate excuse.

Regular readers of this blog know that I have, on more than one occasion, criticized sociologist Steven “Intermarriage Is The Greatest Threat” Cohen. But to tell you the truth I’m starting to feel a little sorry for the guy.

While I doubt he cares about my blog missives, and while there is of course something noble about sticking to your opinions even when they are no longer fashionable, Cohen, who is a professor at Hebrew Union College and director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive, seems to be increasingly out of step with the non-Orthodox American Jewish community.