Two scholars hope to secure the legacy of ‘Jewish Renewal’ By Andrew Silow-Carroll May 30, 2023 (JTA) — Rabbi Arthur Green gave the commencement address last week at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Conservative flagship where he was ordained 56 years earlier. His talk was mostly a response to political turmoil in Israel, but he also urged the graduates to pioneer a “new Judaism.” “I had the good fortune, as a young seeker,… Read More
Author! Author! New books by local authors cover music biz, gay history and more “Zieglitz’s Blessing” By Michael Goldberg (Cascade Books, 208 pages) Ricky Zieglitz is studying for his bar mitzvah when his family is rocked by tragedy —… By Andrew Esensten May 24, 2023
Comics An Asian-Jewish superhero fights the Chinese mob in new comic (JTA) — An independent comic book publisher that aims to promote diversity in comics is about to spotlight a historic new character: the Asian-Jewish Leah… By Julian Voloj May 22, 2023
Off the Shelf Novel set in S.F. peels back the layers of a gay Jew’s psyche Set in San Francisco, “The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants” by Orlando Ortega-Medina is striking because the author manages to pack so many elements into a… By Howard Freedman May 19, 2023
Books 'Exodus' shaped a generation of Jews — does anybody still read it? This article was originally published on the Forward. Terry Kraus was a 12-year-old transfer to a new school in Arizona in the 1960s when a classmate… By Jenny Singer May 17, 2023
Books How an unsung Jewish football hero changed American sports (JTA) — Decades before Sandy Koufax sat out the first game of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, and 18 years before Greenberg chased… By Jacob Gurvis May 15, 2023
Obituaries Bestselling theologian Rabbi Harold Kushner dies at 88 Rabbi Harold Kushner, one of the most influential congregational rabbis of the 20th century whose works of popular theology reached millions of people… By Philissa Cramer, Ben Harris, JTA May 1, 2023
Opinion Reimagining ‘The Jewish Catalog’ for a ‘disrupted’ world In 1973, “The Jewish Catalog” was published and became an unmatched phenomenon in American Jewish life, with sales soaring to over 300,000 copies. Its… By Rabbi Michael Strassfeld Apr 24, 2023
Books SF Public Library highlights works by Yiddish authors A San Francisco Public Library branch is participating in a national reading program highlighting works of literature originally written in Yiddish, as… By Andrew Esensten Apr 20, 2023