Appealing to youth culture seems to be a long-term strategy. Rabbi Gavin Frank, who will take over as Aish Rabbi next semester, is not very different from Bregman. His students tell the twenty-five-year-old Frank—who reads up on the break-ups of Jessica Simpson and other pop culture icons while walking past newsstands on the subway—that he's "pretty cool."

Father Jacek Buda, priest of the Columbia Catholic Ministry, has no interest in being a "celebrity pop star priest." That doesn't mean he's a diehard reactionary. He'll accompany singing on his guitar, but only when he has to, during retreats ("because otherwise," he said, "the polyphony would fall apart"). He also shares a sense of humor with many of his students.

# posted by Squach : 7:30 PM   |