Monday Media: Jay Michaelson’s God vs. Gay

Hot on the heels of the recent decision of the Conservative Rabbinic Assembly’s decision to allow its rabbis to officiate over same-sex marriages, we bring you a podcast from the Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival featuring Jay Michaelson speaking on his book God vs. Gay: The Religious Case for Equality.

This program was presented in partnership with the DCJCC’s GLOE: Kurlander Program for GLBT Outreach & Engagement. In his book, which recently came out in paperback, Jay tackles the contentious “God vs. gay” divide, arguing that religious communities should favor gay rights because of religion, not in spite of it.

As both a gay rights activist and religion scholar, he explores the moral principles that favor acceptance of GLBT people, contending that these values outweigh the ambiguous verses so often cited by conservatives.

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Shabbat Surfing: Iranian Shell Game

How is Iran, with all its well-publicized economic woes financing its clandestine nuclear ambitions that so endanger Israel? Nuts. And Israel is aiding and abetting.

The first gay wedding in California happened under a chuppah. Hopefully, the happy couple received fewer lame mezuzahs than my wife and I did.

Lots of posts all over the blogosphere bemoaning the closing of the Spertus Museum exhibit Imaginary Coordinates. I’ve tried to find posts that defend the museum’s decision or the Jewish Federation of Metro Chicago’s pressure campaign to get the exhibit closed, but I haven’t been able to find any. Is there a reason the “outrage” spoken of in reference to the exhibit hasn’t found its way onto the net? Please let me know if you’ve written or seen a blog that takes the position of the Spertus board and I’ll gladly post it here.

Michael Chabon weighs in on the brilliance that is You Don’t Mess With the Zohan in an amusing back and forth with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg (whose blog is rapidly becoming one of my favorite reads).

Only 177 days until Hannukah. Have you gotten your child a GaliGirl?

Finally, this week marked the second anniversary of the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers along the Lebanon border by Hizbollah–including Gilad Shalit. While there were rumors of a possible negotiations for their release, the Israeli Consulate posted this video to YouTube, which is a story written by Gilad when he was 11-years-old and read by children in New York City public schools.