The latest ignitions and emissions from our podcast
Plus an antisemitism discourse check-up
Younger rabbis are more anti-Israel than ever before. But can synagogues afford to be picky?
In recent years, Jewish seminaries and synagogues have faced a problem: there aren’t enough young people looking to become rabbis. This shortage has resulted in institutions becoming more lax about who they accept—bending, for example, denominational lines for a young rabbi who at least actually wants to be there.
But then the question of Israel comes up. And in a post-Oct. 7 world, with more young rabbis identifying as non-Zionist or even anti-Zionist—young Jews who have no ties to the Holy Land in the way previous generations did—shul search committees have to ask themselves how flexible they’re willing to be. As Tevye once said, “If I bend that far, I’ll break.”
Hosts Avi and Phoebe are joined by Bonjour Chai producer Zac Kauffman to discuss the implications of this generational shift, which was recently covered in a feature story on Jewish Insider.
On being a ‘garbage human being’: Phoebe Maltz Bovy checks in on the state of antisemitism discourse in February 2024
Two articles crossed my path last week, and I’ve been thinking of them in conjunction with each other. Not because they are the same sort of article (most certainly not), nor because I agree with them in equal measure (again, nope), but because they illustrated something about worldviews…
Montreal’s Jewish Public Library moved books by children’s author Elise Gravel to closed stacks in response to her illustrated social media posts criticizing Israel—then reversed that decision the following week. During this time, the JPL announced a Freedom to Read Week event featuring new writer-in-residence Emil Sher, to a social media chorus calling out the hypocrisy. Sounds like a Bonjour Chai topic-in-waiting…
