By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Many American Jews are unaware that in 1888 a group of New York City Orthodox congregations brought Rabbi Jacob Joseph from Europe to the United States to be the first and only American chief rabbi. This attempt to establish one leader for the entire Jewish Americ…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
The Talmud and other ancient Jewish writings contain halachic (legal) discussions and aggadah (stories) about the lives of the ancient rabbis. While most schools emphasize the works’ halachic aspects, the rabbinic tales can offer lessons for contemporary readers, …
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
“Jackpot Summer”
Elyssa Friedland specializes in stories about dysfunctional families. What is different about her approach is that readers find themselves liking her characters, even when they are acting badly, because, no matter how much they squabble, they t…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
There are different approaches to discussing rabbinic law and how those laws affect Jewish practice. An objective scholarly look at their development can be found in Elana Stein Hain’s “Circumventing the Law: Rabbinic Perspectives on Loopholes and Legal Integrit…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Did Jews own slaves in the antebellum American South? Did these same Jews support the Confederate cause? While it may be distressing to contemporary American Jews to learn that their co-religionists supported slavery and the Confederacy, Jews were found on both side…
