i was glad to see Eric Yoffie, Marc Gellman (my favorite Newsweek contributor), and Kerry Olitzky all returning for another year on the list. unfortunately, there was one who was left off the list that deserved to be on it: Orthodox Rabbi Jacob Rubenstein.

don't let the Orthodox title fool you: this is a guy who went zip-lining and scuba diving on vacations, quoted Bruce Springsteen and Lynard Skynard in his sermons, and saw the good in everyone whether they were Jewish or Gentile, gay or straight, so on and so on. he was also one of 15 Rabbis to be invited to the White House for the High Holidays in 2003. he was a close friend and confidant of mine for nearly 20 years. sadly, he and his wife were killed in a house fire last week (there's probably one article about this in at least every Jewish newspaper in the greater New York area). it has left a tremendous void in the Jewish community, but i have good memories of him. he had a great sense of humor, and i'm sure he would have gotten a kick out of this site.