Rabbi Daniel Brenner

(note: an edited version of this piece is published in the newsletter of the RRA) Working in a Christian Seminary, I sometimes feel like the wacky upstairs neighbor in a Hallmark Channel sitcom. Sure, Menachem Meiri and Yakov Emden respected Christianity – but would they have played Santa at the office Christmas party? Inter-religious work has not changed much since its un-official birth at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. It is often a community relations exercise in putting aside differences…

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I just got a wonderful invitation from the Indian consulate. The event, January 30th, is the 58th anniversary of Mahatma Ganhdi’s Punya Tithi. There will be a program of bhajans (devotional songs) and inter-faith prayers. More later.

Back on January 2nd, Joseph Loconte had a piece chastising Liberals for using the language of faith in his “Nearer, My God, to the G.O.P.” which ran in the New York Times. Loconte, in an attempt to teach a wider lesson about faith and politics argues that “When Christians – liberal or conservative – invoke a biblical theocracy as a handy guide to contemporary politics, they threaten our national discourse.” This sounded perfectly sensible – until I did a bit…

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This week I’m studying with Bob Pollack, director of the Columbia University Center for the Study of Science and Religion. Here’s more on the course. He is a fascinating speaker – and already making folks blood boil. We have a mix of religious leaders – Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Unitarians – and we will all be going to the Darwin exhibit on Wednesday at the Museum of Natural History.

Reb Blog has now been read by over 1,000 unique visitors! While in blog land this may not be such a wondorous feat, I am celebrating by posting a new poem. Enjoy: The poetry hacker The poetry hackerbeams his verseto Tusconto an unsuspecting Blackberry userwhy Tuscon?I don’t knowBut she doesn’t get it.Delete.But the text messageWired to a random number in IstanbulIs faithfully translatedThen read aloud at a house partySpoken in broken English. Our hero blogs late, sending emails to.nz.cz.kgHe dreams…

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Back in 1987 and ’88, when I was going to school in Madison, Wisconsin, I was part of the ensemble at the Ark Improv Theater, directed by Dennis Kern, a man who is considered a master of improv comedy. (He had previously trained Joan Cusak.) The Ark was a a gem – a transformed auto mechanic shop where I had the great thrill to perform on stage with the late comic actor and SNL star Chris Farley – and to…

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I snapped this photo on a recent airboat tour of the Everglades near Miami. Repairing damage done by Hurricane Wilma, these Muckoseegee tribesmen are reconstructing a Chickee hut on a small, gator infested island. While much has been lost as the tribe has shifted from fishing (mercury levels got too high) to casino gambling and NASCAR, it was great to see an ancient practice like Chickee building done outside the confines of the museum. My aunt Sorah, a Lubavitcher recently…

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Twas the War On ChristmasBy Daniel S. Brenner Twas the war on Christmas, when all through the land’holiday’ greetings of happiness were banned.Christmas cheer was spread to Sikh and Hindu,’Christ is Born’ cards sent to the ACLU. The children were nestled all snug in their beds,While visions 360 danced in their heads.And mamma on her yoga mat, and I in my jeans,Had just clicked on the TV for some more of split screens. When there on the tube there arose…

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