Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Joshua Hammerman

Boston and Jerusalem: Minuteman and Maccabee

Joshua Hammerman — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:44:01 +0000

Behind my desk there are two framed photos, panoramas taken at my two ancestral abodes, my homes: Boston and Jerusalem. Boston’s sometimes called the Athens of America and never is that comparison more apt than when, imitating the ancient Greeks, they run the Boston Marathon. On Monday, Athens and Jerusalem became one. In his classic [...]

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History Channel’s Brutal, Bloody “Bible”

Joshua Hammerman — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:57:23 +0000

Last month, I taught an introductory session for adults on the biblical book of Joshua. I informed the class about two things that they needed to know from the outset: First, that this is probably the most important book in the entire Bible for understanding the landscape of religious extremism. And second, that almost none [...]

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Ranking Rabbis – and Congregants

Joshua Hammerman — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 17:43:28 +0000

Elsewhere on these pages, my colleague Dan Ornstein has kvetched about being unranked in the Newsweek / Daily Beast Top Fifty list for rabbis (and the Forward list too). Well, Dan, if you feel frustrated, think how I feel. I’m not on the list, and my congregant wrote the article! True, she did call me “my own Top Rabbi” [...]

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Call me Ashke-Sephard, Pass the Pesach Hummus!

Joshua Hammerman — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 02:26:45 +0000

When I am in Boston before Passover, as I was this week, I love to go to the Butcherie on Harvard Street. They have the best knishes and a great variety of baked goods and appetizers. But I was not prepared for the extent of the offerings with Kitniyot (legumes), something that you see everywhere [...]

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Death and Downton

Joshua Hammerman — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:55:41 +0000

In Pirke Avot chapter 2, Rabbi Eliezer states: The honor of your fellow should be as precious to you as your own, and do not be easy to anger. Repent one day before your death. Here in America, season three of Downton Abbey came to a crashing conclusion last night. For those who haven’t seen [...]

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Valentines Day, SI’s Swimsuit Issue, Purim and the Jews

Joshua Hammerman — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:13:23 +0000

Dear Rabbi, Can Jews Celebrate Valentines Day? Dis-heartened Dear Dis-heartened, No need to be heart-broken. While we might ordinarily tend to shy away from holidays dedicated to saints, Valentines Day, as a celebration of love, fits right into our value system. There is in fact a Jewish Valentines Day, called Tu B’Av, which occurs in the [...]

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Guns and Moses

Joshua Hammerman — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:31:00 +0000

This week’s portion of Yitro includes the Ten Commandments, including that oft misinterpreted, “Thou shalt not kill.” The Hebrew word found there is not “kill,” but “murder.” Judaism does allow some killing, including the killing of animals for food – albeit in a strictly regulated, humane fashion – and the killing of human beings in self [...]

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Is Racism Over for Jews?

Joshua Hammerman — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:05:56 +0000

On this weekend dedicated to the memory and legacy of Martin Luther King, when Barack Obama will again be sworn in as President, it is natural to assess the state of racism in America, and also among Jews. It is hard to make a case that it is over, when in Israel, Price Tag attacks routinely deface [...]

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Heschel’s 40th Yahrzeit: Beyond Survivalist Judaism

Joshua Hammerman — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:59:50 +0000

This erev New Year’s Eve also marks the 40th Yahrzeit for Abraham Joshua Heschel. My congregants spent this past Shabbat discussing the legacy of this great 20th century Jewish thinker, focusing especially on these texts. The passage “Pray to be Shocked,” sums up beautifully the subversive nature of authentic prayer, and the transcript of his television [...]

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Newtown: twenty grieving Hannahs

Joshua Hammerman — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 12:59:15 +0000

Today my county, my state and my country are in a state of deep shock, following the massacre at Newtown. For a rabbi, especially one living in such close proximity to the murders, it has been reminiscent of the days following 9/11, when we had to discard all our Rosh Hashanah sermons and sift timeless [...]

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Gorbachev’s Revenge

Joshua Hammerman — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 18:00:10 +0000

This week recalls American Jewry’s shining moment, the 25th anniversary of the great Soviet Jewry rally that brought 250,000 people to Washington on the eve of a Reagan – Gorbachev summit. Historians have confirmed that this rally – like the Soviet Jewry movement as a whole – had a significant impact on the eventual demise [...]

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Lincoln, Bibi and Facts on the Ground

Joshua Hammerman — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:22:48 +0000

I saw the film “Lincoln” last week and see parallels between the Palestinian and American Civil Wars. Lincoln understood that reunification with the South could never happen on the South’s terms: i.e., with the continued legitimization of slavery. His great fear was that the war would end before slavery was constitutionally abolished; he knew that [...]

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The woman who brought 400 rabbis to their feet: Susan Rice

Joshua Hammerman — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:25:01 +0000

As a supporter of Israel, I would be thrilled to see Susan Rice become Secretary of State. This became clear to me long before the recent controversy surrounding her appearances regarding Benghazi on network talk shows. If people’s fitness for high office were to be determined by the efficacy of their presentations on talk shows, [...]

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The Voice of the Bridegroom, the Voice of the Bride

Joshua Hammerman — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:56:35 +0000

When Jeremiah the prophet waxed eloquently about a revived Jerusalem filled with cries of mirth and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride, it was clear to him that somehow Jerusalem would continue to be impoverished without the sounds of both men AND women singing. Yet, last month, Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of the Israel [...]

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And the winner is…God

Joshua Hammerman — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:09:50 +0000

There were many winners and losers in Tuesday’s election, but perhaps the greatest winner of all was God. This will undoubtedly not be the conclusion of those who claim to know God’s every whim, who have pontificated from the rafters about the diabolical Dems and their ostensibly Muslim/socialist/unAmerican/Israel-hating leader. I won’t be so bold as [...]

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