The End of the Rabbi As Mr. Nice Guy

Please Note: This article is a reprint from the original article published by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in the huffingtonpost.com website. Rabbi Dov Fischer’s comments are displayed at the end of this post.

Presenting directly after me at a recent conference in Malaga, Spain, was legendary Apple Macintosh promoter Guy Kawasaki who said something memorable and counterintuitive about marketing: Seek to polarize your audience. Stated differently, never fear factionalizing your public into those who love you and those who don’t.

It’s something ...

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Clergy Abuse at The Gates of Perdition: An Amalgam – Part 1 of 7

The Ohaiv Sholom Congregation:
An Amalgam of Rabbinical Experiences

As Narrated in the First Person
by Rabbi Aaron Weiss
Former Rabbi of Cong. Ohaiv Sholom of Paducah, Kentucky*

“Free at Last.
Free at Last.
Thank G-d Almig-ty
I’m Free at Last!”

* There is no such congregation and probably is no major Jewish community altogether in the city of Paducah.  The name of “Rabbi Aaron Weiss” and all other names in ...

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Clergy Abuse at The Gates of Perdition: An Amalgam – Part 7 of 7

Clergy Abuse at The Gates of Perdition:
An Amalgam – Part 7 of 7 

Continued from Part 6                   Continued at Part 8 (forthcoming)

Meanwhile, the incident, having been perpetrated three weeks before the High Holy Days, posed me with a significant theological leadership dilemma.  Mike Goldstein often would lead Ohaiv Sholom’s Friday night Services, the only services he felt competent to lead. For close to two years, he ...

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The Mourning Period of S’firat Ha-omer

With S’firat Ha-Omer, we now are in the midst of a period of mourning that compares with the first twelve days of the “Three Weeks” period in the summer.  Thus, during this mourning period, we do not conduct weddings, take haircuts, listen to music, or attend public entertainment like movies.  Home video rentals are not deemed the same as “going to the movies,” as anyone who makes it a practice to go to movies knows.  Some are stricter and do not ...

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“The 3 Weeks” and “The 9 Days”

With the period of The Three Weeks looming next week, it seems timely to review the essence of the period. From the Fast of the Seventeenth of Tamuz (this year, Sunday July 24) through Tisha B’av (this year, Saturday night August 13 and Sunday August 14 until nightfall), we mourn the loss of our innocence, the loss of our sovereignty, the loss of our land, and the loss of our sanctity as a Nation in whose midst G-d literally abode. ...

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