So, as you have undoubtedly heard, the Forward has chosen me as one of its 50 most influential American Jews. Me, Rahm Emanuel, Sarah Silverman, and Lipa Schmeltzer, among others.

This honor has changed my life, especially the magnificent gift of 1,000 shares of AIG stock from the finance committee of the Elders of Zion. It has also caused heartache. Friends are envious, even non-Jewish friends. For instance, Malcolm Gladwell is very upset. When we were roommates a very long time ago, Malcolm used to listen to the klezmer stylings of Giora Feidman on his record player. He is, in other words, very Jewy. He is also deeply wounded. "I am so jealous," he wrote. "Shouldn't there be a parallel list for wanna-bes?"

Yes, there should. If the Forward can publish a list of the top 50 Jews, then Goldblog can publish a list of the top 50 philo-Semites. I don't have a philosophical problem with this, by the way: I dissent from the line, first passed on to me by Frank Foer, who, tragically, is not a top-50 Jew (though his mother is!), that philo-Semites are anti-Semites who like Jews. So, a list, and one loyal readers can help me assemble. I already asked Malcolm to provide me names of other philo-Semites, but he said: "How do I know philo-Semites? I'm such a philo-Semite I only associate with the real thing."

Here are a few names, just to get us going:

1) George Eliot
2) Barack Obama
3) Harry Truman
4) Emile Zola
5) Malcolm Gladwell

Please send your entries to Goldberg.atlantic@gmail.com, and I'll post them as they come in. 

Jewcy is giving away tickets to three upcoming events! To enter to win, follow these steps to get on our exclusive guest list.

1. Register and fill out your Jewcy Profile.

2. Click on an event below and send the personal message, "I want tix!"

3. We'll send you back a message to confirm your acceptance.

 

 

Off the Wall Parties at the Jewish Museum

Thursdays March 20 and 27

A two-week open studio project featuring eleven artists creating and performing in the museum. In this live laboratory, different groups of artists will develop a work-in-progress each week.

Send a personal message for tickets!

 

 

Forward: Readings by Arnon Grunberg and Victorial Redel

Friday March 21

Join Emmy Award-winning author and architect James Sanders for an introduction to Jewish New York past, and celebrate two authors looking forward with the launch of The Jewish Messiah and The Border of Truth. Live klezmer band, flowing cocktails, and dancing against the lights of Lower Manhattan.

Send a personal message for tickets!

Our own Rabbi Andy Bachman is making waves big enough to get him included in this year’s Forward 50, a list that the Forward explains thusly:

Membership in the 50 doesn't mean that the Forward endorses what these individuals do or say. We've chosen them because they are doing and saying things that are making a difference in the way American Jews, for better or worse, view the world and themselves. Not all these people have put their energies into the traditional frameworks of Jewish community life, but they all have embodied the spirit of Jewish action as it is emerging in America, and all of them have left a mark.

Go Rabbi!: Go rabbi, go!
Making a difference? Hell yeah. Making waves, too. Rabble rousing and generally getting people involved without shoving tefilling down their throats and expecting them to get all shidduched up ASAP.

Here’s what the Forward has to say about Andy:

In the past few years, the leafy Park Slope section of Brooklyn has come to rival Manhattan's Upper West Side as a hub of non-Orthodox Jewish life — only hipper. Alongside the neighborhood's five established synagogues — which run the gamut from Orthodox to left of Reconstructionist — several independent minyans have sprung up to serve the area's burgeoning bourgeois bohemian set. As much as anyone, Rabbi Andy Bachman has been in the thick of the Jewish renaissance in so-called Brownstone Brooklyn. In 2003, Bachman and his wife, Rachel Altstein, launched a group called Brooklyn Jews, bringing youngish Jews together for low-pressure text study, holiday celebrations and socializing. The group's High Holy Day services quickly became the place to be for local 20- and 30-somethings. Last year, Bachman took over the pulpit at Brooklyn's largest Reform synagogue, Congregation Beth Elohim. Even as he has taken on the challenge of leading an established congregation, he has continued to nurture the independent Jewish scene, keeping Brooklyn Jews going and making Beth Elohim's facilities available to local minyans on the Sabbath. Beyond Brooklyn, the 44-year-old Bachman is a rabbinic favorite of the creative crowd, having participated in the Reboot network and serving on the advisory board of the Web site Jewcy.

Of course we love the little shout-out at the end, but I think the awesomest part of this is that even though Andy’s got a big congregation to run he hasn’t abandoned his indie roots, and still makes sure that local minyans have space to daven on Shabbat.

Mazel tov, Andy! We’re kvelling.