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Read Rabbi Knopf’s Recent Posts
- ‘Earn This’: Last Day of Passover 5782 April 24, 2022
- Judaism for the Wise and Wicked: Passover 5782 April 20, 2022
- When the Devil Comes for You: Parashat Tazria 5782 April 2, 2022
- Having a Heart: Parashat Teztaveh 5782 February 13, 2022
- What Oneness Demands of Us January 31, 2022
Tag Archives: Conservative Judaism
Judaism for the Wise and Wicked: Passover 5782
Questions are perhaps the defining feature of the Seder. The ceremony, with its unusual rites and symbols, appears to have been specifically designed to arouse questions, particularly from children. To all these questions, let me add one that I want … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Conservative Judaism, conservative rabbis, holidays, Judaism, Passover, Pesah, religion, Torah, wisdom
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Renewing our Vows: A New Approach to Intermarriage
Recently, my congregation’s lay leadership voted to permit its clergy to officiate at marriages between a Jewish individual and a partner from another background (with some important conditions), if and when the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly and the Cantorial Assembly … Continue reading
Posted in Articles and Op-Eds
Tagged Conservative Judaism, conservative rabbis, Conversion, interdating, interfaith, intermarriage, religion, society
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One Community, One Campus: Rosh Hashanah Day 1, 5777
Of all the enemies our ancestors faced in antiquity, perhaps none were more fearsome than the Assyrians. Around 900 BCE, Assyria began to conquer much of what was at the time the known world. The empire Assyria built stretched from … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged American Judaism, Conservative Judaism, faith, High Holidays, High Holy Days, Jewish holidays, Judaism, religion, rosh hashanah, spirituality, synagogue, synagogues
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Where They Are – Rosh Hashanah Day 1 5776/2015
What would it look like for synagogues to truly meet people where they are? Lessons from God and Wall Drug. Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged community, Conservative Judaism, Conversion, Jewish holidays, outreach, rosh hashanah, synagogues
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Why I’m Still a Conservative Jew
My name is Michael Knopf. I grew up at a Conservative synagogue; I spent my summers at Camp Ramah in New England, a Conservative movement camp; as a teen, I was president of my Atlanta chapter of United Synagogue Youth, … Continue reading
Posted in Articles and Op-Eds
Tagged Conservative Judaism, Denominations, interdating, interfaith, intermarriage, USY
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The Legal Responsibility of Jewish Hotel Patrons
Over the past few years, I had been trying to pass a teshuvah (Jewish legal opinion) in the Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards arguing that Jewish law insists we must not patronize businesses that abuse their workers. The paper … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Conservative Judaism, current-events, equality, ethics, halakhah, Jewish law, justice, social justice
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Recipe for a Renaissance – Kol Nidrei 5774
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Conservative Judaism, growth, holidays, Judaism, religion, sermon, social justice, synagogues, Torah, wisdom, Yom Kippur
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X-Mensch: Coming to a synagogue near you?
Summer is upon us again, and with it movie season. This year, as with recent years, the multiplexes are being dominated by films on superheroes – from sequels to “Captain America,” “Spider-Man” and “X-Men” to … Continue reading
Posted in Articles and Op-Eds
Tagged Conservative Judaism, ethics, Jewish People, Judaism, justice, Pew Study, superheroes, synagogues
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Why Synagogues Matter
Passover, which began last Monday and continues until Monday night in Israel and Tuesday night in the Diaspora, is a holiday that invites questions. This year, a year in the shadow of the Pew study, which showed only 1/3 of … Continue reading
Posted in Articles and Op-Eds
Tagged Conservative Judaism, Denominations, Jewish home, Jewish People, Passover, religion, synagogue, temple, wisdom
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