There are two recent articles in Ynet about the rabbinate. The first was posted in translation at Reblen. It’s about a young woman who made aliyah, served in the army, and was unable to marry because her mother underwent a reform conversion. The second can be found here (Hebrew) and describes what may be a [...]
Many Jewish groups have been speaking out about the current debate surrounding health care reform, with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism even setting up a separate web site, Jews for Health Care Reform. Usually I believe that Judaism never comes down on one side of a public policy debate, rather it demands certain [...]
Being that the new White House website has a section devoted to energy and the environment and that these are going to be important issues for both the government and society in the future, it’s worth reading this post, “Is Renewable Power Actually Sustainable?” In addition, it is worthwhile to note the newest bedfellows of [...]
Exactly at noon, the new White House website, along with a blog, was up and running. According to Section 1 of the 20th Amendment, The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day [...]
Yesterday our son offered up a Talmudic-like question on the constitutional requirement that the president be a “natural born Citizen.” What if President Obama had been born in Hawaii before it became a state in 1959? From this Wikipedia article and here it seems that the question was asked by some during Barry Goldwater’s presidential [...]
Saturday, January 20, 1973, was President Richard Nixon’s second inauguration. From a Time magazine article about that day: Rabbi Seymour Siegel, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and an ardent Nixon campaign worker, delivered a prayer that is customarily reserved for the presence of kings. Its text: “Blessed art thou, O [...]
MLK from over 45 years ago. See here.
It looks as if President Bush isn’t going to have a last minute pardon party like President Clinton, although he still has some time to go. See here for a full list of Clinton’s pardons and commutations and here for most of those of by Bush and here for some late commentary on the matter.
Some thoughts from Andrew Sullivan on the meaning of this day and what Obama may say: It will be about the moment. What Obama understands – and it’s worth reiterating – is that his presidency is a unique combination of one man and one very specific moment in time. We are witnessing the collapse of [...]
Below is the performance of Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land from this afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial. (hat tip) Over the years there has been some controversy about the song’s lyrics, music and copyright. See here, here and especially here. IMHO I would agree with Bruce Springsteen when he said that it is [...]
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