Hat tip Hirhurim:

Chakira writes: "For many people in the Hassidic world, the excesses and people magazine style lives of Rebbes seem corrupt, meaningless, venal and lacking in spiritual content. Indeed, many of my Hungarian friends began life with a cynicism of Rebbes cultivated by Der Yoelish and now continue to spew their antipathy on any einikel they can find. One prominent Rov of Satmar extraction has written a serious sefer against rebbes and their followers. Others are just completely cynical; not returning to Derech HaChasam Sofer like that Rov, but rather insulting even their own Rebbes. This latter group seems to be where the person who made this video comes from."

Binyomin Eckstein writes:

I’m trying to think what the Chofetz Chaim would say about the video. I don’t think it would be "we have to know how to laugh at ourselves or we have big problems."

I am literally nauseated by the video.

To quote from "Journey to Virtue", page 141:
"One common manifestation of this category of leitzanus is unfortunately so widespread and deeply entrenched as to require special attention. It has become routine for members of one group to make fun or belittle the practices and custons of other groups, e.g. Chassidim and Misnagdim; Ashkenazim and Sephardim… and followers of various rebbes tzaddikim and gedolim. This practice is strictly forbidden. The customs of these groups were generally instituted by great tzaddikim for profound reasons far beyond the understanding of those who deride them."

Shmuel writes: The point is not to be mevaze Talmidei Chachomim or Torah but to shine a bright light on the rebbe-centric and gashmius adoration which has krept into Yiddishkeit. Rather than being focused on Torah, chassidim seem too focused on the individual rebbes and the "malchus" aspect of their leaders.
This is what the Gra and the misnagdim found objectionable about Chassidus 200 years ago.
This threatens to enter the yeshivishe velt too unless we are attuned to it and conciously work to avoid the cult of the person and worship of materialism.

Rabbis Steven Weil of Beth Jacob, Elazar Muskin of YICC and Yosef Kanefsky of Bnai David-Judea all rank at the top of any list of America’s leading Modern Orthodox rabbis.

Various Angelenos are honored in the Forward’s latest list of 50 influential Jews.

As with the following case, the public stands that bring popularity to Orthodox rabbis among the non-Orthodox are the very thing that marginalize one in the Orthodox world.

Brad A. Greenberg writes:

Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky learned last fall the danger of voicing a political opinion last fall when he wrote a column for The Jewish Journal that said Israel should be free to determine the fate of Jerusalem without having to kowtow to Diaspora Jews who demand the city remain undivided.

“To be sure, I would be horrified and sick if the worst-case division-of-Jerusalem scenario were to materialize. The possibility that the Kotel, the Jewish Quarter or the Temple Mount would return to their former states of Arab sovereignty is unfathomable to me, and I suspect to nearly everyone inside the Israeli government,” he wrote.

“At the same time though,” he continued, “to insist that the government not talk about Jerusalem at all [including the possibility, for example, of Palestinian sovereignty over Arab neighborhoods] is to insist that Israel come to the negotiating table telling a dishonest story—a story in which our side has made no mistakes and no miscalculations, a story in which there is no moral ambiguity in the way we have chosen to rule the people we conquered, a story in which we don’t owe anything to anyone.”

Nauseated or not, by simply suggesting that American Jews should butt out Kanefsky had broken an Orthodox taboo and the damage had been done.

“We heard sales, er, give-aways of the Journal spiked—in Gaza,” Robert Avrech wrote on his blog Seraphic Secret. “As we said, we’d like nothing better than to ignore Kanefsky, an arch leftie crank in Pico Robertson area, who leads a Romper Room congregation, but naturally the story was gleefully snapped up by the Los Angeles Times, a paper that would like nothing better than to see Israel disappear from the map. And of course, all the usual leftist Conservative, and Reform suspects jumped in to greet their lone Orthodox colleague to the Official Neville Chamberlain Appeasement Club. One of these characters labels Kanefsky a—get this—visionary.”

Well, last week The Forward agreed with that visionary label and named Kanefsky to its list of 50-most influential Jews, which includes a handful of Angelenos.

“A former associate rabbi at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, a New York congregation led by maverick Orthodox Rabbi Avi Weiss, Kanefsky has long taken positions at odds with the Orthodox establishment,” The Forward stated. “He has allowed women to read from the Torah in their own single-sex services. As a past president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, he is far more engaged with the non-Orthodox Jewish world than most of his peers. But his nontraditional approach seems to be helping his cause: Over the past year, Kanefsky’s congregation of 300 families has grown by more than 10%.”

JOE EMAILS LUKE:

The verdict on Kanefsky’s brand is not yet complete. There is no other orthodox shul in l.a. whose mission seems to be tolerance above all, with authenticity left for the accuracy of the torah reading and the checking of bugs in salad. He is the only rabbi to show a gay movie (Trembling Before God) in the shul, to say that Jerusalem could be split, and to do these hoky women’s services. it is as if he wants to piss someone off - I doubt he has more members because of his actions, his shul’s growth is due to the capacity at other shuls and the inferiority complex of most of its members vis a vis YICC and BJ. The members of Bnai David are "downstat" compared to the tonier members of YICC and BJ.

It does not play to a base of committed jews, it is trying to be open to all. Many in his synagogue send their kids to shalhevet. Lots of parents in my shul whose kids go to shalhevet go to shul less and less. Some don’t even keep shabbat. We will see where Kanefsky’s airy fairy brand is in 20 years. Do those who grew up in that shul return, or do they take the tolerance of a kanefsky the next step and end up in the library minyan in Beth Am, with their kids taking the next step and leaving the religion altogether?

As a teenager growing up and on my way to yeshiva in israel, a tolerant rabbi who could state that jerusalem was on the table would not attract me. If i am spending 10 hours a day in school to do both secular and religious studies, and on to 12 hours a day of talmud, i do not want some rabbi spending his time with the homeless on :ico instead of making sure that the women in the congregation do not wear pants. I want a code not good karma.

Kanefsky seems to do well among jewish men and women in their 30s-50s who have to work their asses off to make the 200 plus it costs to live in any type of normalcy in the hood. Those people are so concerned about bringing home the bacon that they are sick of the code. They want Judaism to be less inconvenient, they want their rabbi to read like Fareed Zakaria and not like Rabbi Chaim Luzatto. They do not want the polish shtetl, they want the Upper West Side.

There is no doubt that Rabbi Kanefsky is influential and has the candle power. If he went black hat, he would kick the ass of any rabbi in La Brea on every day of the week and twice on Sunday. I just do not know if he realizes the genie he has unleashed won’t come and knock him off.

Click here to join the fun.

The Torah portion is Chayyei Sarah (Genesis).

Rabbi Ari Kahn

From Hirhurim:

It all sounds a bit suspicious to me.

He doesn’t even know if he was shot with a gun or hit with a rock.

It doesn’t sound to me like he was shot.

Here’s his interview with The Awareness Center.

From the Jewish Week:

A Williamsburg community activist who has spoken out frequently against child sexual abuse in the Brooklyn Orthodox community claimed Monday that his life had been threatened multiple times as a result.
Rabbi Nuchum Rosenberg claimed that the threats culminated last month when he was “shot” on Berry Street, near the Williamsburg Bridge by unknown assailants.

Speaking at a press conference outside the 90th Precinct Police Headquarters in Williamsburg, Rabbi Rosenberg complained that police were unable to protect him. He pointed to a scarlet wound seared in the middle of his forehead to indicate the spot where he was hit.

But in interviews he gave before and after the press conference, Rabbi Rosenberg said he was actually uncertain just what hit him on the forehead, saying it could have been a pellet gun or even a rock.

“A car flew by as I was walking, and I felt something hit me,” he told The Jewish Week. “I didn’t see what it was.”

Police sources confirmed Rabbi Rosenberg had filed at least three complaints about being harassed or threatened over the last several months. But he acknowledged that he filed a complaint about the attack on him last month several days after it had occurred. Rabbi Rosenberg said the assault took place on Oct. 16, the fourth day of Sukkot, but that he went to the police only after the eight-day Jewish holiday.
Rabbi Rosenberg, 58, said that prior to this incident he was threatened twice at gunpoint by an unknown person speaking Hebrew who warned him to close down a telephone hotline he operated. The Yiddish language hotline featured recorded messages on which Rabbi Rosenberg addressed a host of sensitive community issues, including child sex abuse, and on which he made often incendiary charges.
On one recorded message obtained by The Jewish Week, Rabbi Rosenberg denounced various individuals by name as an “extortionist,” and a “mafia thug.”

From ERSNews:

CANADIAN TV REPORTER
FREED IN AFGHANISTAN
TELLS OF PRISONER EXCHANGE

SHOULD THE NEWS MEDIA HAVE REMAINED SILENT?

(Nov 8th, 2008 9:00AM PST)

BY ERS NEWS

By all accounts Mellissa Fung is a courageous woman.  She was stabbed, kidnapped and held hostage outside Kabul, Afghanistan since October 12, 2008.   She spent nearly four weeks being hidden by her captors in a tiny dirt hole, routinely blindfolded and chained.  Her story and ordeal were described in a lengthy interview broadcast on the Canadian TV just days ago

CLICK TO PLAY

You can also read this Canadian Press interview transcript with Fung. transcript

Fung’s kidnapping was known by over two dozen western media outlets at some point after it happened on Oct 12, 2008.  None of those news organizations reported her kidnapping.  ERSNews.com, The Enterprise Report was among those news organizations. A source had alerted us to her kidnapping and was questioning why media outlets had agreed in censoring in any news about her case.  This news blackout was the result of the direct request of the CBC, Canada’s national TV channel.  ERS, as well as other news media outlets, withheld what we new about the case.  We did so because of the direct request made by the CBC.  Their rational was that any news of her capture could interfere with on going negotiations at the time to secure her safe release.  That plea was honored by our news organization as well as others, but not without debate, trepidation and concern for a clear double standard.  Did the CBC and other news outlets follow that same approach in other cases? The clear answer was no.  Why was this case different?  Before we got a clear answer, Fung was released.

The complete details of how Fung’s release came about are still sketchy.  Fung has confirmed that part of the deal to secure her freedom was an agreement by Afghan intelligence to release jailed suspects related to the kidnappers.

The full story has yet to be told, but for Fung her harrowing ordeal is now over.

Larry Cornies writes:

Any Canadian journalist possessing a scintilla of empathy had to have been pleased last Saturday to learn that CBC-TV reporter Mellissa Fung had been released, alive and relatively unscathed, after 28 days of captivity in Afghanistan.

Her ordeal was terrifying, and the list of cases worldwide in which the abduction of a journalist ends badly is already too long.

This week’s celebratory parade of news stories, columns, feature-length interviews and transcripts about the Fung case, mostly at the CBC, however, has pushed that niggling little matter of the voluntary media blackout spanning the weeks prior to her release off the public agenda. It’s an issue to which anyone interested in free and vigorous journalism should feel compelled to return.

In the hours following Fung’s capture, CBC executives issued pleas for co-operation with a blackout on reporting on her case, both to their Canadian colleagues at news organizations such as The Canadian Press, CTVglobemedia and Canwest, as well as to other news outlets internationally, such as The New York Times and The Associated Press. The argument was simple and ultimately persuasive: Publicity about Fung’s case could exacerbate her situation by helping her captors understand the value of the currency in their hands. Any reporting on her kidnapping could endanger her life.

And so news organizations played along. Hours became days and days became weeks. A mere embargo became an extended blackout. While the journalistic community was buzzing about Fung’s fate and the state of negotiations to free her, Canadians remained in the dark — because a handful of news executives had decreed they would not know.

The impulse among journalists to protect one of their own is understandable, even laudable. But the suspension by any news organization of its primary missional activity — the timely, fair and open reporting of information to the public — represents a descent into murky waters. If Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon were abducted on an upcoming trip to Kandahar Air Field, would Canadian journalism executives abide by a similar request from the Prime Minister’s Office not to report it?

Read my initial report here.

Pops emails: "So, Sunny Jim, I see you crowing like a fair-dinkum jackdaw that you "broke" the Jennifer Garner story. That’s a big stretch, boy. You troll public records, copy and paste the info and that’s "breaking" a story? The only breaking that’s going to happen now, lad, is when I track you down to break your spine with an ax handle and leave you paralyzed on a fair-dinkum termite hill. That’s what happens to braggarts and liars in my world, son."

The New York Daily News writes:

Hollywood sweetheart Jennifer Garner is living in mortal fear of a mental patient who has stalked her across the country to share his delusional visions.

The pregnant "Alias" anti-diva is so terrified she got a court order against tormentor Steven Burky, who sources said is now in a psych ward.

"Mr. Burky’s repeated efforts to contact me, his delusional and paranoid letters, his appearance at my private residence, and his recent claims that I will be ‘persecuted’ in a manner that may result in my death are all extremely frightening," she wrote in court papers.

"I now fear not only for my own personal safety, but also for the safety and well being of those I love and care most about, including my husband and my daughter," wrote Garner of her 2-year-old, Violet, and actor hubby Ben Affleck.

"Also, I am currently pregnant and fear for the safety of my second child once born."

Burky, 36, is a born-again Christian who believes he was the victim of satanic abuse rituals as a child in Pennsylvania, according to his blog.

"He does have a mental disorder. He’s supposed to be taking medication," his aunt, Maxine Burky, told the Daily News.

Burky has been stalking Garner, 33, since 2002 when he posed as a college student and then a punk rocker to meet her at a college in Ohio and record store in Los Angeles.

Miles Corwin writes for Los Angeles magazine:

Her friends meant no harm. They decided to throw a birthday party for her at a Hollywood club and posted details and photographs on a Web site. A man trolling for attractive women spotted her picture. He located her MySpace page and discovered that she hosted a satellite radio show. Posing as an entertainment agent, he claimed to be a friend of a well-known Hollywood photographer. The photographer, the man said, wanted her to model for him and needed her phone number. As it happened, the woman knew the photographer. She also knew that he already had her number. She e-mailed back: Just tell him to call. Thwarted, the man responded, “Tell him yourself, bitch.” He began e-mailing threats. “I want to send someone to blow up your house.” “I want to cut you up and drink your blood.” “I will kill you.”

The woman, whose radio name is Tina Divina, ignored him, hoping he would go away. “But this guy was like a virus,” she says. “He got a list of my friends and started contacting them, asking for my number and address. When they blocked him, he started sending them threatening messages. After a while, he found out where they worked and showed up at their jobs. Now I’m really scared because instead of these anonymous e-mails, he’s taking action. I’ve got a young daughter. What if he goes to her school?”

She contacted the Los Angeles Police Department. Officers steered her to its Threat Management Unit, the first law enforcement division in the country created to combat stalking. Los Angeles is the stalking capital of the world. The Threat Management Unit—or TMU—handles about 250 cases a year, up by more than 40 percent since 2003. The TMU’s walls are lined with posters from movies with stalking themes, such as Fatal Attraction, The Fan, Paparazzi, and Swimfan. Based in a nondescript downtown office building, the unit has grown to nine detectives, including its leader, Jeff Dunn, a 24-year LAPD veteran with a diplomatic manner. Celebrities are only about 10 percent of the TMU caseload. Most victims are women who have problems with ex-boyfriends or ex-husbands; unlike celebrities, these women cannot afford bodyguards. About a fifth of the TMU’s investigations involve gay stalkers.

The Internet has made life harder for victims such as Tina Divina, and in turn for the TMU. “Before, in some cases, the obsession might have been there, but the contact wasn’t,” Dunn says. “The Internet has increased the opportunity for suspects to make contact with victims and made it easier to dig up personal information on victims.”

Many cyberstalkers, including the man tormenting Divina, believe they can remain anonymous. When her case came in last year, Dunn assigned detectives, including Jim Hoffman, to investigate. For stalking to be a crime, California law says there must be a “credible threat to place [a] person in reasonable fear for his or her safety.” The detectives know that some women who are harassed can be in jeopardy even though nothing illegal has occurred. When stalkers turn violent, it is too late. Divina was fortunate because Hoffman could show that her stalker had committed a crime; he had threatened her and several of her friends.

From MSNBC:

“He has now shown up at my private residence and has repeatedly expressed his belief that God has sent him a vision of me being ‘persecuted’ in some manner that might result in my death,” her statement continued.

Garner said she fears “not only for my personal safety, but also for the safety and well being of those that I love and care about most, including my husband and my daughter.

“Also, I am currently pregnant and fear for the safety of my second child once born. I have suffered, and continue to suffer, substantial emotional distress as a result of Mr. Burky’s behavior.”

On Nov. 7, a judge issued the temporary restraining order, requiring the 6-foot-1, 145-pound man to stay at least 100 yards away from the star and not contact Garner, her husband, Ben Affleck, or her daughter Violet Affleck.

In issuing the restraining order, the judge deemed there was a “credible threat of violence.”

In the request for the permanent restraining order, Dennis Bridwell of Galabad Protective Services, who was hired by Garner, claims the man’s behavior toward the star has “escalated to such a degree,” that he believes, “Mr. Burky poses and immediate threat to Ms. Garner’s and Mr. Affleck’s personal and bodily security.”

Bridewell claimed his concerns for Garner and her family’s safety increased when he read Burky’s alleged online blogs, in which the man claimed he was involved in satanic rituals as a child, and allegedly “envisioned himself a participant in the murder of a young, Christian woman.”

In fact, in an online blog, which Burky allegedly placed on the Internet, he claims to have been sexually abused as a child and to have uncovered repressed childhood memories of being involved in satanic rituals as a youth.

“For the next 5 years, from 2000 until 2005, I continued to unrepress more and more abuse memories, many extremely evil and unhappy,” Burky allegedly wrote in an online journal in 2006. “Some memories indicate I allowed demons to come into me when I was about 2 years old, locked in a basement being punished.”

Only 2% of Wilshire Blvd Temple’s membership of 33,000 attend services there weekly so the overwhelming number of its Jews won’t be affected by this closure.

Synagogues tend to be built and maintained by the money of those who rarely attend while those who regularly attend rarely donate big.

Why should the temple spend $100 million to rebuild its main sanctuary when the place is located in an area where white people rarely go voluntarily?

Brad A. Greenberg writes:

Julie Miller walked a fine line when she delivered her annual president’s message to the congregation of Wilshire Boulevard Temple on Erev Rosh Hashanah.

She focused on the history of the illustrious synagogue, talking about the century of influence and communal relevance that has stemmed from visionary leaders, about the temple’s present state and about plans to revitalize the historic Magnin campus in Koreatown in hopes of expanding programs for Jews returning to the city’s historic core.

Despite the fact that the building campaign clearly needs much more — tens of millions of dollars more — than the $71 million Miller said had been raised in cash and pledges, she didn’t ask congregants to get out their checkbooks.

"When you are raising money, you go through two phases: You plant the seeds, and you reap them. Right now we are just planting," Miller said in an interview. "With people so freaked out about money, it just feels wrong. So we are just building, building on relationships. That way they’ll feel better about donating when they can."

The economic downturn has been bad for just about everybody. The Dow Jones is down by about 40 percent from its peak in October 2007 and is acting more erratic than usual — vacillating up or down by 5 percent on any day for more than a month, leaving everyone, even Los Angeles’ wealthiest, watching helplessly as stop-losses fail to stop the bleeding.

And for a handful of L.A. synagogues, the timing has been particularly poor.

Building campaigns that began in the go-go years are now running up against fears among donors — some rational, others irrational — about what the future holds for the U.S. economy and what it’s going to mean for their own pocketbooks.

Wilshire Boulevard Temple, which a decade ago spent $30 million to build its Irmas Campus in West L.A., is now focused on its historic home to the east — hoping to raise upwards of $100 million to restore its sanctuary — a national historic landmark — and reinvent the campus with a Hebrew school, parking structure and community center.

…Wilshire Boulevard, for one, is faced with the decision of restoring and renovating its historic campus or eventually abandoning it altogether. The 79-year-old sanctuary is structurally unsafe and last month was closed indefinitely after a foot-long chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling 60 feet above.

Rabbis Cohen, (Young Israel of the West Side), Rabbi Kalman Topp (Young Israel of Woodmere), and Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz (Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem 6519 Baily Road Cote St. Luc, Quebec) are candidates. The current Beth Jacob schedule is Rabbi Steinmetz on January 31, Rabbi Topp on February 7 and Rabbi Cohen on February 28.

Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn has not been selected.

Here is a picture of Rabbi Kalman Topp:

From yiws.org:

Rabbi Dovid Cohen has served as Associate Rabbi of the Young Israel of the West Side since 2006. Rabbi Cohen received his BA from Yeshiva University in 1994, graduating with honors in History. He was ordained by the Rabbi Isaac Elchanon Theological Seminary in 1997. Rabbi Cohen served as Assistant Rabbi at Congregation Shomrei Torah of Fair Lawn, NJ, where he received practical rabbinic training and mentoring from Rabbi Benjamin Yudin.

Following his years of rabbinic training, Rabbi Cohen attended the Columbia Law School and completed his Juris Doctor degree in 1999. Rabbi Cohen practiced law at the Manhattan offices of Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson. His practice focused on white collar criminal defense and bankruptcy and restructurings. Rabbi Cohen is a member of the New York State Bar Association.

In 2004, after fortuitously meeting his wife, Rabbi Cohen left the legal profession and moved to Israel to deepen his rabbinic knowledge. Rabbi Cohen studied in Kollel Sharei Meir under the guidance of Hagaon HaRav Yaakov Friedman and became a very close disciple of the Rosh Yeshiva. Rabbi Cohen engaged in intensive work on the interface of Jewish law and fertility and laws of family purity at the Puah Institute in Jerusalem. He also trained in Ma’arot under the guidance of HaRav Dovid Ostrov, gabbai of HaGaon HaRav Moshe Sternbauch-the Rav Av Beis Din of Jerusalem. Rabbi Cohen also taught popular courses at various seminaries in Jerusalem.

In 2007, Rabbi Cohen completed an MS in clinical sociology from the University of North Texas with a concentration in family therapy. He did clinical training under the supervision of Dr. Yisrael Levitz, director of the Family Institute of Jerusalem and author of "A Practical Guide to Rabbinic Counseling." He also received mentoring from noted therapist, Dr. David Pelcovitz of the Azrieli Graduate School of Yeshiva University.

In addition to his work at Young Israel, Rabbi Cohen is the official counselor for the West Side COJO and offers monthly lectures and counseling on issues related to marital intimacy and interpersonal relationships. Rabbi Cohen is also the Mashgiach Ruchani at Stern College for Women as well as an adjunct professor of Jewish Law.

Rabbi Cohen is married to Ruchi Eisenberg, daughter of the Chief Rabbi of Vienna, Austria. Rabbi Cohen and his wife Ruchi have two children: Yedidya and Anaelle.

Rabbi Cohen can be reached at  cohen.dovid@gmail.com

 Click here to download MP3’s of Rabbi Cohen’s shiurim

Here is more information about Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz aka the Happiness Warrior:
 
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz has been TBDJ’s spiritual leader since September 1996. Prior to that, he served congregations in Mount Vernon, New York, and Jersey City, New Jersey.

He received his ordination from Yeshiva University, where he was a fellow of the elite Gruss Kollel Elyon. He has a M.A. in Jewish Philosophy from the Bernard Revel Graduate School, and a M.A. in Education from Adelphi University. He has completed Leadership Education and Development (L.E.A.D.) and Meorot Rabbinic fellowships.

Rabbi Steinmetz writes a regular column for the Canadian Jewish News (Several of these articles can be found on the Internet here and here). His articles have appeared in the Toronto Star, The Gazette and La Presse, as well as the The Jerusalem Post and the Forward and many other Jewish newspapers. He also has an online blog of articles "The Happiness Warrior", which is frequently updated. He also has a blog on Basic Judaism.

Rabbi Steinmetz is the Past President of the Montreal Board of Rabbis, Past President of the Rabbinical Council of Canada, and past Vice President of the Quebec Region of the Canadian Jewish Congress, a member of the executive of Quebec Israel Committee (QIC) and Hillel-Jewish Students Center of Montreal. He was the Rabbi for the 2005 March of the Living. He is a member of the executive board of the Rabbinical Council of America.

He was the co-chair of the Synagogue division of the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 Federation/CJA campaign and co-chair of Super Sunday 2000, was the recipient of the Federation/CJA’s 2001 Gertrude and Henry Plotnick Young Leadership Award, and was the chair of the 2004 Young Leadership Campaign.

He is married to Lisa Schwartz, and they have 4 children; Akiva, Hillel, Eitan and Ilana.

Rabbi Steinmetz can be reached at 514-489-3841×25 or via e-mail to rabbi@tbdj.org.

DAVE GORDON WRITES:

TORONTO — As the rabbi of Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem in Cote St. Luc, Quebec, 46-year-old Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz not only gives sermons from the bimah, he has also found a way to offer words of wisdom through a virtual pulpit, by blogging.

A blog (short for “web log”) is a regularly updated journal on the Internet where people are invited to comment on entries. Rabbi Steinmetz is one of only a dozen rabbis in North America who have or operate a blog, a handful of them in Canada.

He refers to this ever-growing Internet tool as “the ultimate megaphone.” By opening this digital door, the rabbi has invited people all over the world into his shul, and into his head.

One of the many advantages he cites for having a blog is that his speeches can reach beyond the synagogue bulletin and the Montreal Jewish community.

“In this way, anyone anywhere can see something of interest to them,” he says. “A rabbi gets up on Shabbat, presumably because he has something to say, and on a blog, hopefully a lot more people can take a look at it.”

This is a beautiful love story between a Christian Palestinian and an Muslim Indian.

It’s gorgeous to look at, like one of the two leads, Lisa Ray.

The other lead, Sheetal Sheth, is skinny and awkward, but at least she’s a writer.

True love blossoms in an Oxford hotel room, away from the persecuting patriarchal gaze.

There’s enough Jew hatred to keep things interesting.

Christian writes:

You would think that a cross-cultural, cross-religious lesbian romance should have enough built-in conflict to sustain an 80-minute feature, but Shamim Sarif’s "I Can’t Think Straight" slumps and stretches its way from its first uninspired set piece, an engagement party for Jordanian-Christian Tala (Lisa Ray), to its mildly embarrassing closing montage, cut to, natch, Jill Sobule’s "I Kissed a Girl" (hello, 1995!). As with her other feature, "The World Unseen" (released to theaters earlier this month), Sarif adapts and directs her own novel here, with Ray and Sheetal Sheth playing the lead roles. For "I Can’t Think Straight," she enlists the help of co-writer Kelly Moss, but to no avail: Sarif has crafted a movie with such paper-thin characterizations and so lacking in dramatic incident that it’s frankly surprising that she was working from a novel at all — much less one she wrote herself.