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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Three months ago, I attended the West Coast Dinner held by my alma mater, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT), in honor of its alumnus of the year, Rabbi [name redacted by request] (YCT ’06). Although I was super happy to attend, merely by din of YCT having an event on theContinue Reading
Last night, I took part in a “Rabbi Battle” at Moishe House of Orange County. In truth, it was less of a “battle” than a panel, of sorts (perhaps, a mini-panel, you might say), with the residents hurling a variety of questions at us that they had previously gathered fromContinue Reading
Last night, a fundraising event for SoCalJSS/SoCalJYAE was held in Long Beach. Entitled “Gin & Genocide” was the third of this year’s series of texts and tippling. Featuring a discussion on genocide in the Jewish tradition, considering Amalek, Midian, and the seven Canaanite nations, Rabbi Drew steered the conversation eventuallyContinue Reading