Leading Discussions with SoCal Hillels this Spring
As the spring semester is wrapping up, I wanted to share which discussions I have led at which campuses here in Southern California, through my current position as rabbi of Southern California Jewish Student Services. I will start off with my two discussions at California State University, Fullerton with theContinue Reading
“Bourbons & Boundaries”: Discussion on Intermarriage in Classical Jewish Texts
The other night, I led an in-depth textual exploration of the prohibition of intermarriage in Judaism. It was the fourth and final event in a series to combine a spirits-tasting alongside a deep textual exploration of a topic in Jewish tradition in the 2013-2014 (5774) year. One of the moreContinue Reading
Celebrating a Bar Mitzvah
Last week, I joined with a family (and their friends and family) to celebrate their son becoming a bar mitzvah. A question I got frequently was, “Where is the Torah-reading?” When this family initially reached out to me in the summer of 2012, they indicated that they wanted to doContinue Reading
Young Adult Jewish Communal Professionals Conference?
One of my takeaways from having attended TribeFest last month is that many young adult Jewish communal professionals are really looking for something [that is not yet being offered to them] (when speaking about young adults, for the context of the organized Jewish community these days are 20s-30s (for some,Continue Reading
Experimenting with Different Teaching Modalities
Recently, I came to the realization that I was approaching each and every teaching opportunity as an experiment. As opposed to a set way of leading a discussion, I needed to different styles at each and every opportunity. I think I had come to the realization that the style to whichContinue Reading
Jewlicious Festival 2014
This past weekend, I had the honor of being one of the presenters at the tenth annual Jewlicious Festival. Taking place on the historic RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, the festival began in the late afternoon of February 28th and concluded in the late morning on March 2nd.Continue Reading
Rabbis Without Borders Evaluates
As one of the rabbis who have participated in the Rabbis Without Borders fellowship, I was initially saddened when I read Rabbi Rebecca Sirbu’s “A Time for Bold Action: Redefining the Metrics of Jewish Life” which appeared the other day on eJewishPhilanthropy, in which she wrote that there will notContinue Reading
Speaking with Rabbis Without Borders Student Fellowship
Last night, I had the honor to speak with Clal’s West Coast Rabbis Without Borders Student Fellowship on the topic of social media, beginning with a text study. While there have been several cohorts of Rabbis Without Borders, as well as a student fellowship on the east coast for theContinue Reading
Speaking on Panel at Temple Beth David about Denominations
Yesterday, I had the honor of speaking on a panel about Jewish denominations at Temple Beth David in Westminster, sponsored by the Jack Broscow Brotherhood. I was one of three rabbi panelists, alongside Rabbi Joel Berman of Temple Beth Emet of Anaheim, representing Conservative Judaism, and Rabbi Nancy Myers ofContinue Reading
Highlights from Rabbis Without Borders Third Annual Alumni Retreat as Seen on Twitter
A couple of weeks ago, the third annual Rabbis Without Borders Retreat took place at the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center, which was great, except that I did not attend this year. While I did attend last year (and I realized I have not yet written about it online –Continue Reading