• George Washington and the Spirit of Chanukah in Washington

    Chanukah in Washington is a time of parties and gatherings, since it’s a city in which relationships, connections, and shared ideas are so central to the culture. Though I am not political by vocation or nature, D.C. is, as they say, a company town. Thus, it is part of my role as Rabbi to attend many…

  • Thankgiving

    In Hebrew, the term for being thankful is hakarat hatov, recognizing the good that is done for us. We primarily do this through the recitation of blessings which are so ubiquitous in an observant life. These are really about recognizing that we construct very little of our own lives. Much of who we are —…

  • Living Together: The Torah’s Call to Support the Stranger

    There was a time, recorded in this week’s Torah portion, Chayei Sara, when we were the stranger, the minority, dwelling in the Land of Israel.  As Abraham says to Ephron at the beginning of the Torah portion when he buys land to bury Sarah, “I am a stranger and a sojourner among you, give me…

  • Israel’s Role in Modern Jewish Identity

    Some people say that denying the Jewish people the right to return to the Land of Israel, and the right to national self-determination, is not anti-Semitic;  that Israel is not an essential part of being a Jew, since the Jewish people have been religious Jews for 2000 years without sovereignty in the Land. The counter-argument is…

  • Abraham’s Journey to Truth

    This week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha, begins, “God said to Avrom, ‘Go for yourself from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and bless you, and make your name great and you will be a blessing……

  • Blessings in the Midst of Curses: Finding God in Life’s Extremes

    In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tavo, we read of the great blessings the Jewish people will receive if they listen to God, and the terrible curses the Jewish people will suffer if they do not listen. The Jerusalem Talmud states (Megillah 3:7): “When reading the section of the curses in the Torah, One does…

  • From Passivity to Action in the Work of Repair

    In this week’s Torah portion, the people of the world are drowned and Noach — the one tzadik, righteous person — is saved from death in a tevah, an ark. Noach is not the only person in the Torah to be saved from death in a tevah; the other is Moshe, who is floated down the Nile in…

  • Yom Kippur 2022

    The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, is a week away.  Generally, achieving atonement takes work through engagement in the process of teshuvah, return.  One must admit their sin, ask forgiveness of those they sinned against, and change their ways. But there is one mechanism that facilitated atonement even without teshuvah — the Sair Hamishtaleach —the scapegoat, which was…

  • Rosh Hashanah 2022

    This coming week is Rosh Hashanah, the “birthday of the world,” as it is called in the Musaf liturgy.   But Rosh Hashanah, the first day of Tishrei, is not the first day of creation but the sixth day of creation, on which, according to the story in Bereshit, the human being was created.    On…

  • The Symbolism of Matza and the Art of Sourdough

    We have recently finished reading about Yetziat Mitzrayim, the Exodus from Egypt, and soon it will be Pesach. The Talmud says that at the seder one must see themselves as actually having left Egypt. But if this is so, why not act out the Exodus? Dress the part (as some sefardim do), wear shackles and make bricks, experience…

  • The Danger of Partial Judaism

    In this week’s Torah portion, Ekev, Moshe continues his words of strength and warning to the Jewish people to ready them for their  entry into the land and their start as a nation.   In the last verse of last week’s parsha Moshe tells them to guard the, “mitzvot, the chukim and the mishpatim.”  The…

  • Embracing Change and Returning to God

    This week, with Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort, we read the first of the seven haftorahs of comfort which will link us from this shabbat to Rosh Hashanah.  With this shabbat we transition from the mourning of the three weeks to the process of teshuvah and the Days of Awe. Tisha B’av is the…

  • The Role of Speech in Our Spiritual Journey

    This week’s parsha, Divarim, is always read on the shabbat  before Tisha B’av.    Its title is “Divarim”, “Words”, since it begins:  “These are the words which Moshe spoke…”   After which Moshe commences an almost book length speech.  It is ironic that the Torah ends with a book of words spoken by the law…

  • From Vengeance to Sensitivity

    In this week’s Torah  portion, Matos-Masey, God tells Moshe to attack Midyan in order to avenge their attempt to defeat the Jewish people.  But Moshe does not do it himself, nor does he appoint anyone directly, instead he makes a general call out to the Jewish people telling them to appoint soldiers and take care…

  • Tzelafchad’s Daughters and the Passover Lesson

    In this week’s Torah portion, Pinchas, the Land of Israel is divided by tribes and male heads of families.  The daughters of a man named Tzelafchad, who had a great love for the Land of Israel, come forward and declare:  “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not one of Korah’s faction, which banded…

  • The Parah Adumah and the Sacred Boundary Between Life and Death

    In this week’s parsha we are told of the Parah Adumah, the Red Heifer, an animal which was slaughtered and burned outside the Tabernacle, then its ashes were mixed with water and, perplexingly, when this mixture was sprinkled upon someone who was impure they became pure. What is “tumah,” this impurity which the Torah often…

  • Servant Leadership in the Face of Ego

    In this week’s Torah portion, Moses and Aaron’s cousin Korach and 250 leaders of the Jewish people gather against Moses and Aaron and say, “Its enough for you, for, the whole people are holy and God is in their midst, so why do you lord over the congregation of God?”  In the end Korach and…

  • Yom Yerushalayim: Gratitude, Humility, and Responsibility

    This past Sunday was Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem day, commemorating the day in 1967 that Israeli forces took east Jerusalem and the old city back from Jordanian control. On that day Defense Minister Moshe Dayan declared: ”This morning, the Israel Defense Forces liberated Jerusalem. We have united Jerusalem, the divided capital of Israel. We have returned…

  • Listening, Rebuilding, and Moving Forward Together

    Positive things have happened over the past two years.  Many new people have moved into our community- mostly young but some older, and some who left town during the pandemic for other cities have moved back, realizing they could not find in the bigness of Jewish life in New York what they had in the…

  • Investing in Israel: Challenges, Sacrifices, and Hope for the Future

    This week Israel feels a bit like the stock market.   The overall trend is always up, it’s certainly the best investment over time, but in the short term its unpredictable and there sure are ups and downs.  Though I am no expert, this seems to have been an unprecedented year in Israeli politics –…