Esther D. Kustanowitz

The holidays snuck up, and I forgot to share all my columns. So, if you haven’t been checking them out at my Recent Writings page, here are the direct links:

My new column, "On the Record," is now online at the Jewish Week website. An excerpt:

There are always things we keep to ourselves. A journalist will
occasionally encounter a source who grants an anonymous or “off the record” interview, often because of concern about the source’s job, a family member or some other sensitive issue. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution — which, among other things, protects witnesses from having to incriminate themselves — is often rendered, in Miranda Warning format, by local or television law enforcement, as the right to remain silent. Even our dearest friends have their secrets.

I blog and write on the record, but I am occasionally tempted by the prospect of anonymity; if my name were not attached, I might be more fearless and truthful. However, as someone who believes in the sanctity of word choice, I think that speech, commentary and conversation should be on the record. “Off the record” should be a worst-case scenario, not a default setting.

And the column before that, “Courtship, Connection, Community and Chemistry“:

Ask anyone who’s been in the singles scene for more than five minutes: Passion is not something that can be artificially created — nurtured, with the right raw materials and weather conditions (and, some would add, with divine assistance), perhaps. But expecting people to summon passion at will for an event that’s already been planned without their input is like an arranged marriage: it might have worked once upon a shtetl, when unions were communally determined. But nowadays — whether you like it or not — people are making their own choices according to what turns them on emotionally, spiritually, or socially. They might choose to affiliate with the existing Jewish community, or they might create their own modes of engaging with their Jewish identity. Or they may opt out entirely — choosing to remain free agents, or to stick with the analogy, spiritual bachelors, free to wander, to pick and choose their venues and non-committed level of engagement.

How do members of GenX and the milennials find their Jewish education? Here’s a hint: you’re looking at it. Well, not EstherK.com specifically, but the internet, of course…

“Information Nation: Expanding Education’s Frontier to Find ‘Generation Tech,'” which appears in the CAJE Jewish Education News, is co-authored with Ariel Beery, editor of PresenTense Magazine.

No, not me. I’ve just been thinking a lot about the movie, and in particular about the Munich clip.

So for your reading pleasure, I present “Muniched Up?” over at Beliefnet.

And stay tuned for a post over at JTA about the discussions of Jewish identity in the film…