Tablet has a nice profile of Rabbi Asher Lopatin who will be taking over from Rabbi Avi Weiss as the president of Yeshiva Chovevei Torah. Here are two interesting bits from the article. At the same time, Lopatin is taking steps to make Chovevei into a hub for progressive Orthodox thought. The board has agreed [...]
Makor Rishon is reporting that the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has decided to sponsor a conference intended to help nurture the next generation of Diaspora leadership. The author of the article Ariel Kahana, writes that there was some opposition among certain government ministries, since the goals of the conference are a strengthening of Diaspora communities [...]
In a tweet Jeffrey Goldberg called Ed Koch “An utterly unique New Yorker, a charismatic leader, and an upstanding Jew.” Jonathan Soffer’s book Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City contains some interesting details about Koch’s relationship to Judaism and Israel. The first source is about some of Koch’s experiences in Congress as [...]
The Center for Jewish History is hosting a collaborative project, Early New York Synagogue Archives. It contains pre-20th century archival material from Shearith Israel, B’nai Jeshrun, and Ansche Chesed. The material can be found here. HT from the National Library of Israel Twitter feed.
Rabbi Adam Mintz’s article from the latest issue of Ḥakirah, A Chapter in American Orthodoxy: The Eruvin in Brooklyn, is available online. HT: Prof. Lawrence Schiffman on Twitter.
The Yeshiva University Museum at the Center for Jewish History will be running an exhibit through June 30, 2013, “It’s a Thin Line: The Eruv and Jewish Community in New York and Beyond.” Details can be found here. HT: Prof. Lawrence Schiffman’s Twitter feed.
Across the street and down the block from our building is a twenty-story Russian diplomatic residence. It is one big eyesore, but apparently it was either that or public housing, and like most middle-class neighborhoods, the residents preferred the diplomatic residence. Old-timers in the neighborhood tell stories about all of the FBI agents who used [...]
Some of you may be going to the Siyum HaShas at MetLife stadium. Does this gathering tell us anything about the present state of American Jewry? Debra Nussbaum Cohen writes: The Siyum Hashas dwarfs other American Jewish gatherings, underscoring the recent growth of the Orthodox community, as highlighted in a recent Jewish population study conducted [...]
The recently released Conservative & Reform Congregations in the United States: The FACT-Synagogue 3000 Survey, 2010 is available online. One of the survey’s conclusions is: The report confirms that U.S. Jewish congregational life is showing signs of stagnation, with few young adults, many older members and more than adequate sanctuary space. I would just add [...]
The New York Times has an article about the most recent demographic survey of New York’s Jewish population. Here are a few statements from the article. After decades of decline, the Jewish population of New York City is growing again, increasing to nearly 1.1 million, fueled by the “explosive” growth of the Hasidic and other [...]
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