Joshua Hammerman
Joshua Hammerman is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Joshua Hammerman
Why the ‘He Gets Us’ Super Bowl ads make Jews nervous
By Joshua Hammerman — February 7, 2023
(RNS) — Whatever happened to #Pluralism?
The Hanukkah dreidel and America’s gambling problem
By Joshua Hammerman — December 15, 2022
(RNS) — Religious institutions were not prepared for the gambling explosion. We need to catch up.
The climate bill is our generation’s moonshot. Failure is not an option.
By Joshua Hammerman — August 12, 2022
(RNS) — As Ron Howard's new movie shows, our new adventure means digging deep, not going high.
Rams or Bengals? The annual divining of the Super Bowl victor through sacred texts.
By Joshua Hammerman — February 11, 2022
(RNS) — My record is impeccable.
We must commemorate Jan. 6. A national fast is the best way to do so.
By Joshua Hammerman — November 10, 2021
(RNS) — Fasts have fallen from favor, but Jan. 6 deserves one. Our blemished Capitol and our sullied democracy still need that moment of cleansing and rededication.
Inducting a Jew into the Hall of Fame on Rosh Hashana? What is the MLB thinking?
By Joshua Hammerman — July 9, 2021
(RNS) — What would Sandy Koufax do?
Bystanders in a digital age: The heroes of the Derek Chauvin trial
By Joshua Hammerman — April 20, 2021
(RNS) — Idleness is, in many ways, no longer an option now that most onlookers carry in their pockets small, handheld instant-justice machines that can make star witnesses out of 9-year-olds.
This Passover, kosher pig’s on the menu
By Joshua Hammerman — March 25, 2021
(RNS) — Modern Jewish life is filled with kosher pigs, utter inconsistencies we sometimes hardly notice; but they are there, and they are enlightening.
Doing the math: What’s a human life worth?
By Joshua Hammerman — May 18, 2020
(RNS) — As the Holocaust begins to recede from memory, an incontrovertible fact shines like a beacon from the deepest darkness of the 20th century as we face this overwhelming pandemic that will define the 21st. Each human life is priceless.
Auschwitz at 75: From sorrow to song
By Joshua Hammerman — January 27, 2020
(RNS) — As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the time has come to turn our sorrow into song — in a sense, to embrace Auschwitz.
What is the miracle of Hanukkah’s first night?
By Joshua Hammerman — December 20, 2019
(RNS) — It may be that 2,000 years later, Jews, a miraculously inextinguishable and inexhaustible people, still joyously light their menorahs and spin their dreidels as the sun sets.
How to be a mensch at your seder (or Easter dinner)
By Joshua Hammerman — April 16, 2019
(RNS) — As we gather for the holidays, we all need someone who sees the spark of divinity in everyone at the table — even those whose views we can't stand.
Your tax return is a sacred document
By Joshua Hammerman — April 16, 2018
(RNS) — Corny as it seems, I improvise a blessing when I put my completed tax forms in the mail. (Commentary)
As a rabbi, I will violate the Sabbath to help save lives from gun violence
By Joshua Hammerman — March 20, 2018
(RNS) — Yes, this march is so important that I — a rabbi — am going to blatantly disrupt God’s holy Sabbath. But if the ancient rabbinic sages are to be believed, that’s precisely what God wants me to do.
Why God and Ben Franklin pick the Pats
By Joshua Hammerman — February 1, 2018
(RNS) — 'For many years, I’ve been using biblical and other Jewish sources to pick the winner, and I’m almost always right,' writes Rabbi Joshua Hammerman.
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