Kiruv & Orthodox Judaism

My partner and I recently attended a retreat organized by Footsteps, the organization that supports (mostly) Orthodox Jews leaving religion, especially in the New York area. The retreat was wonderful, and I am grateful to the organization for creating such an enjoyable experience, with a lot of generosity, abundance,...

I hate this time of year. I hate personal growth that gets scheduled on a calendar. A month where everyone goes on their best behavior, like they’re being audited by some heavenly oversight authority. I hate scripted apologies. A specific time of year wherever everyone needs to ask everyone else to...

One of my earliest memories of Rabbi Noach Weinberg, also known by the more anglicized name of Noah Weinberg, was encountering him in the street as a young child. I was intimidated, but he gave me the brightest smile and fished through his briefcase for a lollypop. (I can't...

The bible, so full of contradictory statements, is a perfect setting for Rorschach tests. It’s all just spilled ink on the page. You see what you want to see. You want airy fairy hippy shit? You got it. “Sons you are, to the lord your God.” You want dogmatic, oppressive, hardline world views? You’ll...

I have alluded to this before in other scathing posts, but it's becoming more and more clear to me, to the point that I almost see it as synonymous. People generally become religious because they have a fucked up past, and the more religious they become, the more their...

It's a holocaust out there. Thus was the Aish narrative. A spiritual holocaust, much worse than any physical one. Because Hitler is taking bodies and Assimilation is taking souls. And if you take it face value, that's a fucking convenient narrative to have. Need me to parent my kids?...

Are you in the process of getting brainwashed by an Institute for Jewish Wisdom? Is all that mumbo jumbo getting you down as you try to don a black hat a week after being a regular college kid in California? This handy dandy glossary will provide an explanation for...

“You know what Olam Habah is?” Explains the Slonimer Rebbe. “Olam Habah is the entire earth covered in dump trucks full of gold. And then stack them on top of each other until you reach the sky.” That’s a fuckton of gold. Go get some. -- “Love me, daddy,” says Michael Friedberg, deftly...

The kiruv world prides itself in its open-mindedness. "Ask us anything! We will change our views in a heartbeat if you convince us! Sure you can ask about sex, and no, we don't use a hole in the sheet, we're super progressive!" But ask yourself, have any of the really difficult...

The 80s get a bad rap. For synth music and terrible fashion. Generalized away in three syllables, faster than you can say, well, The 80s. The decades before it are nostalgic. 60s – when rebellion was first invented. 70s – when it was perfected, exploding with psychedelia and bellbottoms and afros. But the...