A few (relatively) recent original songs: A song (in Spanish) for Rachel, to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. (2023) A song that dares to ask: Are the dwarves in Tolkien Jewish? (2022)
A Moonshot for American Judaism: Help Revitalize American Christianity
eJewish Philanthropy, December 29, 2020. You know what the biggest problem is with Jewish engagement efforts? The problem is that we only focus on Jews. I’m not kidding. In this country, if we want to get more Jews to shul, we need to get more Christians to church. To revitalize American Judaism, we need to…
Towards Shared Identities
Originally published in Quillette. November 12, 2020. When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, many Jews in the Russian Empire hoped for a French victory. Napoleon had eliminated barriers to Jewish integration and advancement in France; the Russian regime and its policies, by contrast, were thoroughly infused with anti-Jewish discrimination and hostility. But one prominent Hasidic…
Just Jew It: Against Giving Reasons for Living a Jewish Life
eJewish Philanthropy. July 23, 2019. It’s not uncommon, in Jewish communal circles, to hear it claimed that the central question for our profession today is, “Why be Jewish?” In an age of free choice and self-constructed identities, this argument goes, the Jewish community can no longer count on individuals to affiliate themselves and participate, so…
The Pundit’s Fallacy and the Jews
eJewish Philanthropy. June 20, 2019. The best way to get elected is to campaign on the policies I prefer. That’s the essence of what political writer Matthew Yglesias has called “the pundit’s fallacy.” It’s a useful concept for any kind of strategic thinking, not just politics. We all sometimes accidentally tip the scales of our empirical…
Cloud Streaming American Judaism
eJewish Philanthropy. (December 7, 2017. Based on an earlier Times of Israel blog post.) I fear American Jewish culture may not survive Pandora and Spotify. How shall I explain? I was once told that the first song to sell a million copies was ‘The Maple Leaf Rag,” by Scott Joplin, in 1897. Actually, this is…
Religious ‘neutrality’ is a myth.
LA Times. December 23 (online) / December 25 (print), 2016 In 2003, at age 21, I wrote an op-ed for my hometown paper arguing that the Montpelier, Vt., City Hall should remove its Christmas tree. I argued that Christmas decorations symbolically told Jews like me, and other non-Christians, that city government stood more for the…
As America Wrestles with Tribalism, Jews Will Be Exhibit A
The Times of Israel. Dec 14, 2016 Since Election Day, America has been fighting about tribalism. How much was Trump’s victory due to white tribalism? Should Democrats abandon “identity politics” hoping to transcend tribalism, or should they double down on multiculturalism, tribal though it may be? Eventually, the American mainstream will settle on answers to these…
The Tension of Faith: Why I Appreciate Christians Who Believe I’m Going to Hell
On Being. Apr 10, 2016. He didn’t want this conversation, and he hadn’t started it. Neil and I had been friends and college classmates for about a year. He was a religious Christian, and I a secular Jew, but he never preached to me. Out of nowhere, I asked him whether he thought I was going…
Nonprofits Still Seen Struggling Long After Recession
The Jewish Week. (Dec 31, 2014.) One billion dollars lost. With the U.S. economy digging itself out of a deep hole, the $1 billion figure represents the collective revenue loss to Jewish nonprofits from 2007, the start of the Great Recession, to 2012, according to a new study. That’s an 11 percent drop in money…
A Father’s Lectures
This I Believe. Radio presentation on The Bob Edwards Show, June 7, 2013. Also appeared as a chapter of This I Believe: On Fatherhood ed. Dan Gediman, John Gregory, and Mary Jo Gediman. My father wasn’t a spanker, a shouter, a poker, or a grounder. He was a lecturer. When he really got into it,…
The Next Pope and the Jews
First Things. (March 11, 2013.) When the next pope is elected, pronouncements from major Jewish organizations will follow this basic script: Mazel tov. Your recent predecessors did many good things for the Jews; please expand them. Your predecessors also did many bad things for the Jews; please admit this and do better. Mazel tov again,…
Seth Chalmer 