Soft News Musings III

Living Wage

The Conservative movement is debating whether halakhah requires employers to pay a living wage (Forward). It seems to me to be a farfetched halakhic argument but I can't really evaluate the issue because I have failed in my attempts to obtain a copy of the article under discussion.

He-Man Woman-Hater Club

An article from two weeks ago about a men's haggadah and the general lack of male participation in Reform communities (Jewish Week). This week, my old friend Dr. Judith Rosenbaum replies in a letter and states that the claim that Judaism has been feminized "has been heard in every generation since the 19th century" (Jewish Week).

It Was A Dismal Failure, So Let's Try It Again

Kibbutzim in the US (JTA). Socialism in the largest capitalist country in the world, what a great idea! Zionist settlements in the diaspora, brilliant! I applaud these young, ideological activists for trying to do something meaningful. But please, learn from the mistakes of history so you don't have to repeat them.

Left Wing Modern Orthodox Rabbinical Group

Rabbis Marc Angel and Avi Weiss start a new rabbinical group called the International Rabbinic Fellowship (Jewish Week). I said at the time when the RCA was discussing whether to recognize YCT ordination that if they failed to do so this development was inevitable. Maybe this is wishful thinking but I suspect that as long as this new organization only admits Orthodox rabbis there will be no move to force its members out of the RCA.

A Biblical Controversy

The Jewish Press notes the upcoming International Bible Contest for Jewish Youth with a touching story of romance (Jewish Press), while the Muqata blog tells us about the controversy surrounding a Messianic Jewish (i.e. Christian) contestant whose participation might lead to a boycott of the contest (Muqata). If it were up to me, I would declare the boy to be an apostate Jew who is invalid to enter the contest.

Farewell, Forward

Conservative writer David Klinghoffer offers his parting thoughts on the Forward's Opinion page (Forward).