• Celebrating the Material

    This coming week we will celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. The Talmud (Pesachim 68b) states: Rabbi Eliezer says: “On a Festival a person must either eat and drink or sit and learn the entire day.” Rabbi Yehoshua says: “Divide the day, half of it for eating and drinking and half of it for the study…

  • Judaism as a national experience

    I dedicate these words of Torah to the memory of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim who were killed for being Jews here in our own city of Washington.  We mourn for them and pray for their families and all our people.  -Rabbi Shafner We are in the midst of counting the Omer, a 49-day…

  • Lag B’Omer, Politics and Jewish Unity

    This week we celebrate Lag B’Omer, the 33rd day of the Omer. Our tradition is that on the 33rd day, the plague that resulted in the death of Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students ceased. The Talmud tells us that the students of Rabbi Akiva all died between the holidays of Passover and Shavuot, “because they did not treat…

  • Yom HaZikaron

    This period of Sefirat HaOmer is a time of counting. We count 50 days from Passover to Shavuot. Counting is a process of looking forward, of moving toward. Today is Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, which follows Israel’s Memorial Day commemorating those who have died defending the country and Am Yisrael.    On this Yom HaZikaron and Yom…

  • Yom Hashoah and the Two Sons of Aaron: The Fire, The Silence, and the Cry

    Tonight at Kesher Israel, we will commemorate the Holocaust, whose cruelty was far beyond comprehension. We Americans of the 21st century live relatively secure and prosperous lives. It is hard to fathom that less than 100 years ago, there was nothing cheaper than Jewish blood—that more than one out of every three Jews was murdered,…

  • Parshat Parah-Paradox and Purity: The Red Heifer, Purim, and the Hidden Unity of God

    This week we read the special maftir of Parah, which describes the strange commandment of the red heifer. If someone becomes impure through contact with a dead body, the purification process is via the ashes of a red heifer, which must be mixed with water and sprinkled upon them. The Kohen, the priest, who sprinkles…

  • Celebrating Amidst Anxiety

    This week is the Fast of Esther and the holiday of Purim. There is a joke that our holidays consist of, “They tried to kill us, they did not succeed, let’s eat.” It’s interesting that of all the holidays which commemorate our salvation, only on Purim do we fast on the day we were supposed…

  • Gifts

    This past month of Tishrei holidays was an inspiring one at Kesher Israel. Yom Kippur was one to remember, with a packed shul, lots of singing throughout the services and joyous dancing during Neilah. A larger number of our members built sukkot—in yards, on porches and in courtyards of apartment buildings.    Shemini Atzeret was both…

  • The Altruism of Prayer

    The main element of Yom Kippur according to the Torah and the Talmud was the service in the Temple, which revolved around the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest. He represented the nation, was watched by all the Jewish people as they gathered in the Temple, and went into the Holy of Holies on this day…

  • Counting on Balance

    Liberals and conservatives disagree about so much in our polarized society, yet there is one thing the extremists on both sides seem to agree on, and that is hatred of Jews and Israel. Who could have imagined that we would see the day when, in a blink of an eye following October 7th, progressive students…

  • Purim 2024

    Like Chanukah, Purim, which we will be celebrating on Sunday, celebrates triumph and salvation, yet Purim and Chanukah feel very different. On Chanukah we focus on the victory—really, the far aftermath of the victory —the lighting of candles and celebration of the rededication of the Temple. We do not read about the Greek threat or…

  • What Does Rosh Hashanah Reveal About Ourselves?

    This week is Rosh Hashanah, the New Year. Really the first day of the month of Tishrei, the holiday of Rosh Hashanah celebrates neither the first day of creation nor the last. The midrash says that Rosh Hashanah actually was the day that Adam and Chava were created. Though we say in the davening, “hayom…

  • 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…

  • 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 Sefirah

    Time is central to many mitzvot and elements of Jewish life.  We pray at specific times of day, the holidays are called moadim which means “times”, and seasons of year even have specific textures relating to their holidays, such as freedom, introspection, joy, etc.   When we think about what time is though, we are at…

  • Passover 2022

    Pesach, which falls this Friday night, commemorates the most important moment in Jewish history.  We have no commandment to remember Sinai, or the day we entered Israel, but we have many which commemorate the Exodus from Egypt because this moment of leaving Egypt and becoming a nation contextualizes who we are as Jews more than…

  • Shabbat Hagadol 2022: Prayer and Diversity

    I am in Israel this week to perform a wedding and, due to jet lag, I had the opportunity to walk very early this morning to Meah Shearim, a very religious neighborhood in Jerusalem, to pray.  Around sunrise I went to the mikvah there and davened Shacharit at one of my favorite places to pray,…

  • Shabbat HaChodesh 2022

    This Shabbat has a special name, Shabbat HaChodesh, on which we read a maftir from Parshat Bo which contains the first commandment given to the Jewish people as a nation just before they leave Egypt: “Hachodesh hazeh lachem,” “This month (of Nisan) shall be to you the first of months.”    The first Rashi on the…

  • Purim 2022

    This week we celebrate the holiday of Purim.  The Torah has messages for every time and generation.  There are many lessons we can learn from Purim for our lives today.   On a theological level we can learn about the invisible hand of Providence guiding the events of history, which is perhaps why the megillah, which…