What do you think of something like Heeb magazine, which is trying to revive Judaism for young people?
I’ve got problems with that mode of Jewish self-expression. It’s funded and appreciated by the same people who are censoring me. It’s seen as the last-ditch attempt to bring in 20-somethings by any means necessary. It’s not creating conversations. It’s making Judaism cool and hip like MTV, but it’s like Al Jolson in blackface. We’re appropriating hip hop culture — the matzah on the turntable — in order to look cool. By trying to make Judaism look hip and trendy is communicating that we don’t believe that Judaism is intrinsically cool.