It has been a great gift to experience a full week with your children. We are all beginning to feel the rhythm of our days and of our week and we look forward to next week when we will have our full program including the Chug (“club activity”) period. Your children have begun to delve […]
When We Go Out
We carefully get dressed for work and then, when we go out the door we find that the snowplow filled our driveway. By the time we dig out and get to the office we are wet and bedraggled. Looking out our 12th story window the scene looks pristine and quiet, yet when we get to […]
Let Us See Peace on Earth
“See, I am putting before you today a blessing and a curse.” So begins Parshat R’eh (Deut. 11:26) In this opening line, our ancestors, and we, are reminded, individually and collectively, we have choices and power. We can weigh the opportunities before us and choose our path. Each one of us can consciously make a […]
May There Come a Time
Earlier this week the Jewish people observed Tisha B’Av, the day of communal mourning for the many periods of destruction and losses of our collective past. This year the day was especially poignant as we watched our Homeland engaged in a fight for the safety of its citizens as well as citizens fighting for their […]
Home From Camp & Back to School
Even after having experienced numerous school year- summer vacation cycles, I’m still startled by the seemingly sudden signs of Back-to-School. Overnight, backpacks and notebooks fill store shelves which yesterday overflowed with beach balls and BBQ tools. Excitement builds at the prospect of planning a new religious school year with a multitude of opportunities to creatively […]
What Is Moral Clarity on Gaza?
My comments on Operation Tzuk Eitan or “Mighty Cliff” (which appeared here as well as in Haaretz) triggered many positive responses, a couple of negative assessments from the right and one sharp negative response from a leading leftist blogger, Magnes Zionist. That writer, Prof. Charles Manekin, was seconded by a mutual friend of each of […]
Will Your Words Hurt or Heal?
This week we enter the final book of Torah – Devarim (words). Its name, which is also the name of this week’s parsha, refers to the many words that Moses will share with the next generation of Israelites in his final speech, doing his best to prepare them to remember and live all they have […]
Impossible Choices in Gaza
Please have a look at a message I sent last week to Congregation Ansche Chesed, that is both about the Gaza situation, and about how American Jews struggle to understand its moral challenges. Dear Friends, Two weeks into the current Gaza conflict, I may be the only American rabbi left who has not sent […]
The Leaders We Need
I have always struggled with Parshat Pinchas. I believe that those who are our leaders should be thoughtful, not reactive. I believe in elevating those who have proven themselves as individuals who work for the good of all. I have never supported moving anyone “up the professional ladder” to get them out of the way […]
Will We Ever Learn?
As I watched the news of this week unfold my heart became increasingly heavy. Kidnappings, murders, shellings, and calls for revenge have left me speechless and pained. Usually when I read Parshat Balak I focus on the beautiful words that the wizard Bilaam sang from the edge of a cliff, showering blessings upon the people […]
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