Kaunfer, Rabbi Elie, Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us About Building Vibrant Jewish Communities (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights), 2010. Elie Kaunfer is the son of a pulpit rabbi. He never planned to become a rabbi himself, but he changed his mind due to following his passion to create an intense prayer-based egalitarian community […]
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This letter and response is part of a weekly advice column featured in our Shabbat Home Discussion Guide, Shulchan Shelanu. This week's letter involves bigotry, how it looks, what it costs, and what Jews ought to do about it. Dear Rabby, I hate to say this, but I think my step-father is a bigot. He […]
Maybe God is treating us like petulant toddlers in his preschool, putting all of us in a time-out called COVID-19. If so, then, as with any time-out, we’re supposed to come out of this irksome experience both wiser and better behaved. Is it working? What behavioral lessons have we learned? First we have learned a […]
You could say I owe my salvation to tuna fish. Or maybe it was lamb and rice. I suppose you will want an explanation. Okay, I will give it. And in the process I hope to convert you to becoming like me, a food-faith-fanatic. . I first stumbled across the bread of life in the […]
This blog is part of a series of reflections on Jay Y. Kim’s necessary book, Analog Church: Why We Need Real People, Places, and Things in the Digital Age.” Here at Interfaithfulness we talk about building bridges, with our mission statement, “Building Bridges Where History Builds Walls.” We build bridges to a better tomorrow. But […]
We find a variety of definitions of the chavurah/havurah in contemporary sources. See which definition appeals to you: “Friendship circle; a group of people who come together and form an extended family. Bonds grow through regular meetings where members celebrate, socialize, and study together” (Jewish Outreach Institute);[1] “A small group of like-minded Jews who assemble […]
Your messianic congregation, or for others of you, your synagogue or church meets in rented facilities. All your stuff is stored there. Your people like the place. Then comes COVID-19. Social distancing. Temporarily you’re meeting on-line. You tell yourself it’s “just until we can go back home,” that is, to your congregational home. Meanwhile, […]
In previous blogs in this series I wrote of the nature and limits of prophetic gifting in our time, as contrasted with that which pertained in the Tanach (Older Testament). See here. I also wrote of the various kinds of false prophets in our day, those who are intentionally so and those who are unintentionally […]
In my prior post, I mentioned that my major goal in this series of blogs is to challenge us all to give heed to an undoubtedly valid prophetic voice challenging all of us to realize that God’s will for us and our times may well contradict our most treasured spiritual values and expectations. After some […]
Perhaps you have heard that there is something of a movement out there of zealous Rightist Christians and Messianic Jews claiming dreams, visions, and prophecies about our current political condition. Among these are those who claim to have predicted the rise of Donald Trump as well as those who claim divinely given insight into the […]
