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Jewish Law and Health Care

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 [...]

Renewable Power

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 [...]

Inauguration V-High Noon

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 of [...]

Inauguration Day IV-Talmudic Question on Presidential Eligibility

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 [...]

Inauguration Day III-Rabbis and Presidents

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 [...]

Inauguration Day II

MLK from over 45 years ago. See here.

Presidential Pardons

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 [...]

Inauguration Day I

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 an [...]

This Land is Your Land

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 [...]

I Don’t Want to be a Rebbe

Parshablog has the latest on the controversy surrounding the “I Want to be a Rebbe” video. Despite my partial hasidic lineage, hence the name of this blog, I can’t say that I am too interested in the comings and goings of rebbes these days. For some historical discussion of criticism of the material [...]

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