Last spring, NEWSWEEK published a list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America, created and compiled by three nice (and rich and powerful) Jewish media big shots who, it seemed, didn’t have quite enough to do. The aforementioned big shots (or machers, if you will) were Gary Ginsberg, an executive at NewsCorp.; Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures, and Jay Sanderson, CEO of JTN Productions. Triggered by their long friendship and mutual interest in the future of American Judaism, the three men had gotten their BlackBerrys together and come up with a completely subjective and nonscientific formula which they used to rank America’s rabbis. The list ran the week before Passover, and before it came out, the machers conceded that they were having more than a little bit of wicked fun imagining the kind of storm that was about to rain down like so many frogs or locusts. Jews love traditions; the second annual list is published herewith.
About The Author
Lisa Miller
Lisa Miller is a domestic correspondent for the New York Times. She is a former contributing editor to New York magazine, the former religion columnist for the Washington Post, and former senior editor of Newsweek magazine. She is the author of “Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife" and a co-author of "Take Up Space: The Unprecedented AOC."