Judaism

Great Artists Steal: Gaultier and "The Cult of Beauty"

Parodying My Religion

Greening Our Religion

Lost Girls

A Jewish Perspective on Circumcision: SF Weekly Talks to Cut Director Eli Ungar-Sargon

Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon​Eli Ungar-Sargon was raised in an Orthodox household, with rabbis in the family and a Talmudic scholar father. But Ungar-Sargon, who dropped out of medical school to pursue a film career, struggled to reconcile Jewish traditions and ethical questions, especially regarding ritu ... More >>

Circumcision Ban Challenged: Religious Leaders File Lawsuit Today

Taylor FriedmanNo, this isn't a bris ceremony ​Update 1:25 p.m.: Jewish and Muslim plaintiffs file lawsuit challenging San Francisco's circumcision ban. Read more after the jump.We knew this was coming -- it was just a matter of time. The Jewish community has united with other religious groups to ... More >>

Circumcision Ban Isn't "Only in San Francisco" After All

S.F. isn't the only city that wants to cut circumcision from its laws​Apparently, you can find a little touch of San Francisco's bizarre in nearly every corner of the country. The city isn't the only one looking to criminalize male circumcision. This national effort to ban the "mutilation" of fore ... More >>

What’s It All About?

Chances Are ...

What Do S.F. Rabbis Eat Before and After Yom Kippur? We Asked Five to Enlighten Us

Ben Golub/FlickrA bagel and lox is a break-the-fast tradition. But is it rabbi-approved?​Rabbis are the sages who spiritually guide us, teach us the lessons of the Talmud, officiate and celebrate with us on joyous occasions, and console us when we've lost a loved one. With Yom Kippur and its 2 ... More >>

Exploring the Jewish influence on black American music

Matisyahu Talks Keeping Kosher, Observing Shabbat on Tour

Beau Grealy​Shabbat is a Jewish tradition when friends and family come together every Friday night and Saturday to relax and reflect as the workweek recedes. Some Jews are more observant than others: where there's one Jew eating a double bacon cheeseburger (totally unkosher), there's another who ... More >>

Shavout Loud

San Francisco Rabbi Michael Lerner's Home Plastered with Menacing Posters

Rabbi Michael Lerner has been posterized...​Rabbi Michael Lerner, the left-leaning spiritual leader of San Francisco's Beyt Tikkun congregation and editor of Tikkun magazine, is a man whose picture is on many metaphorical dart boards among what is commonly referred to as the "organized Jewis ... More >>

Blogger Pat Murphy Passes Top Hat for $50K to Pay Hospital Bill, Move to Israel

Roshani Dhungana, via San Francisco SentinelShalom, Pat Murphy?​It's always interesting to see what stories San Francisco Sentinel founder Pat Murphy will be publishing. You never know -- it might be one you wrote. Yesterday, however, Murphy sent out a bit of a shocker. He's soliciting donations s ... More >>

God Hates the World, America is Doomed, Obama is the Antichrist, and Westboro Baptist Church Headed to S.F.

The gauche band of lunatics known as the Westboro Baptist Church say they'll be gracing our fair city with a visit next week, making the rounds to several prominent centers of Jewish culture to spread their anti-gay, anti-Semitic, and often anti-grammatical gospel to anyone with ears to hear.We find ... More >>

The Wire: San Francisco's Orthodox Jews Rejoice, as They Can Now Legally Schlep Their Children On Sabbath

Stacey PalevskyRabbi Joshua Strulowitz of San Francisco's Orthodox Adath Israel watches as Supervisor Carmen Chu and Police Chief Heather Fong sign papers granting Jews the right to carry objects on the Sabbath. The chances are exactly 100 percent neither Chu nor Fong ever thought they'd be called u ... More >>

Charlie Varon's visionary Rabbi Sam leaves audiences rapt

The Secrets

Alan Lew, One of San Francisco's Great Rabbis, Dies at 65

In my old job of writing for the city's Jewish newspaper, the standard M.O. for banging out a problem story was "Call five rabbis and see what they think." Some rabbis picked up a reputation for saying foolish things. Others could be counted on to lose their temper. Others earned reps for happily ta ... More >>

Dead Language Society

Traveling Jewish Theatre's homage to Yiddish is nothing to kvetch about.

Tim Barsky's new play, 7 Beggars, leaves us begging for more

Brokeback Mohammed

60 and Counting

My Father, My Lord

The Contemporary Jewish Museum: What’s Inside Libeskind’s Box

Gandhi says Jews will destroy the world

The Spirit Is Willing

Local churches let you get right with God without the hassle

Clay Feet

A new version of the homemade-monster legend feels unfinished

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Silence Is Goldman?

Did the Koret Foundation slash funding for an accomplished Hebrew academy because its dean filed a lawsuit against wealthy philanthropist Richard Goldman? Don't ask Koret.

Best Recreation/Learning Center

Couch Trip

A quest for lost furniture yields a rich portrait of Orthodox Judaism

Internal Despair

In The Believer, a Jewish student explores his inner Nazi

The Rabbi Who Would Save the World

Michael Lerner has won many followers with his ideas for world peace. But if all he is preaching is the Golden Rule, why is he so controversial?

Out in the Open

A documentary film takes a poignant look at gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews

Time Capsule

Artifacts and artwork explore the Jewish concept of time

ZOOM LENS

The Jewish Film Festival

Invisible Walls

"Sophie Calle: Public Places -- Private Spaces"

A Sentence Without an Ending

The "used-car rabbi" gets probation instead of jail, but the question of what he did with millions of dollars in donations remains unanswered

Preserved to Death

Could a fight to save a beloved building leave its nonprofit owner in ruins?

Zoom Lens

Not Politics as Usual: The Jewish Film Festival

Schmoozing My Religion

Urban singles look for love along the spiritual path

Fiddling With Tradition

For local klezmer musicians, experimenting with Jewish music's history is just as important as embracing it

Oral Histories and Pulp Fictions

Excavation, celebration, and provocation at the 18th annual Jewish Film Festival

China's Lost Jews

Their last rabbi died a century and a half ago, but Kaifeng's youtai are slowly reawakening to their identity

Zoom Lens

Letters

Would You Buy a Used Car From This Rabbi?

Ben Tzion Pil has alienated colleagues, intrigued prosecutors, and sold one heck of a lot of cars

Tattoos and Taboos

A new quarterly magazine claims to promote a "cultural revolution" among young Jews