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Spokane
Friday, March 29, 2024

Neal Schindler

A native of Detroit, Neal Schindler has lived in the Pacific Northwest since 2002. He has held staff positions at Seattle Weekly and The Seattle Times and was a freelance writer for Jew-ish.com from 2007 to 2011. Schindler was raised in a Reconstructionist Jewish congregation and is now a member of Spokane's Reform congregation, Emanu-El. He is the director of Spokane Area Jewish Family Services. His interests include movies, Scrabble, and indie rock. He lives with his wife, son, and two cats in West Central Spokane.

Ask A Jew: How has Judaism influenced your writing?

I think my Jewish upbringing and identity, and the ideas and values that underlie both, influence my writing considerably.

Ask A Jew: Is Israel a Secular State?

I imagine that if you surveyed 100 or 1,000 Israelis, you might get a similar response: that Israel is technically secular but often seems nonsecular, and yet a significant portion of its population considers pluralism and separation of religion and state very important.

Ask a Jew: Can a woman become a rabbi if her mother is not Jewish?

If a particular denomination allows women to be rabbis, and a particular woman meets that denomination’s definition of Jewish identity, then she can be a rabbi once she completes all the requisite training.

Ask a Jew: What do Jews think of Christianity, whose followers worship a Jew?

Many Jews I’ve met are amused at the fact that Christians worship a Jew.

Ask a Jew: What do the different sects of Judaism disagree about?

there are a lot of differences between the branches of Judaism

Ask a Jew: Would the ICC issue warrants for Joshua and Moses?

You’re not wrong. If the MPAA — the U.S. organization that gives movies content-based ratings, such as PG-13 — got ahold of the Old Testament, it would be slapped with a hard R, if not the dreaded NC-17 (no children 17 and under admitted).

Ask A Jew: How Do I Become Jewish?

Becoming a “Jew by choice” (the term that is increasingly preferred over “convert,” which some people feel has negative connotations) is a process — you don’t suddenly, in one epiphanic moment, accept the teachings of Judaism and then, wham bam, you’re a Jew.

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