By Julie Wiener, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer What makes an interfaith (or, really, any) family decide to join or not join a synagogue? That’s the million-dollar question these days. And even though my family is part of this demographic — synagogue-affiliated interfaith family with two kids in Hebrew

In The Mix By Julie Wiener Forget those 50 rabbis Newsweek has been fussing over. Journalist/author Peter Beinart may well be the most famous American Jew these days, at least among the New York Times-New York Review of Books-New Yorker-reading intelligentsia. Lost in all the debate about his views on

In The Mix By Julie Wiener, The New York Jewish Week Remember the inreach-outreach debate that dominated much of American Jewish life communal discussions a decade ago? If you don’t, the basic gist was: Should the Jewish community focus on deepening the engagement of already committed and synagogue-affiliated Jews (and

By Julie Wiener, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer Israeli Knesset Member Einat Wilf has authored two books and served in various senior positions in the business and nonprofit worlds before entering politics. She also has an 8-month-old son and an international commuter marriage that entails flying to Europe once

In The Mix By Julie Wiener, The New York Jewish Week I’ve been covering Jewish education for almost 15 years and have interviewed countless people telling me about the myriad challenges (not to mention the financial investment required) of maintaining and passing on our illustrious Jewish traditions. For interfaith families

By Julie Wiener According to one obsessed person who comments on my blog, I think gentile women are superior to Jewish women. Well, apparently so does “Avi Roseman,” the pen name of a 26-year-old single woman who has written and self-published  Secrets of Shiksa Appeal: 8 Steps to Attract Your

By Julie Wiener, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer A few weeks ago I attended a relatively small invitation-only gathering at the Upper West Side’s Congregation B’nai Jeshurun to discuss “Jewish identity, who is a Jew, membership in the Jewish community and outreach, in Israel and the Diaspora.” As you