• Sukkot 2014

    Every child learns the question in Jewish day school.  If the sukkah reminds us of God’s protection of the Jewish people in the desert why don’t we build it in the month of Nisan when the Jewish people left Egypt.  There are many answers but one that Rav Yitzchok Hutner gives in his book Pachad…

  • Passover 2014 – Hidden meanings in the Passover Seder

    In a few days the Jewish people will celebrate the holiday of Passover. The central observance of Passover is the seder meal with matza (unleavened bread), maror (bitter herbs), a festive meal, four cups of wine, readings related to the Biblical exodus from Egypt 3500 years ago, and above all, dialogue including questions, answers and…

  • Shavuot 2014 – Reflections on our Community Shavuot Tikun and Jewish Unity

    This past Tuesday night, the first night of Shavuot, over 100 people from five different shuls and institutions, Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox, came together to spend the night (some even made it all night!)  learning Torah together; to stand again as we did at Sinai, no matter our differences, as “one person with one heart”.…

  • The Lesson of Tishuvah

    This month of Elul leads up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  It is a time of reflection and tishuvah, return, but with what should we emerge from this process? Elul, Rosh Hashanah, the 10 Days of Tishuvah and Yom Kippur culminates in a service performed once a year on Yom Kippur itself, on the…

  • Purim 2013

    Finding God where He is not…in our world In less than a week, on March 20th, Jews will celebrate the holiday of Purim.  Though not as well known by many as other holidays, Purim is actually considered perhaps the most important Jewish holiday.  The Midrash, a first-century Jewish commentary on the Bible, writes that in…

  • Shavuot 2012

    It is not easy for people who share the same religious beliefs to see themselves as one. Due to differences they often label each other heretics and fanatics and deem each other guilty of undermining the welfare, identity, and religious underpinnings of the whole. Soon Jewish people all over the world will celebrate the Biblical…

  • Passover 2012: When We all must Become Children

    “One is obligated to see themselves on the Seder night as if they are actually now leaving Egypt.”  -Maimonides “The child at the Seder asks: “Why is this night different from all other nights?  On all other nights we eat leavened or unleavened bread but on this night only unleavened.  On all other nights we…

  • What’s in a Beracha (Blessing)

    In this past Shabbat’s parsha Yaakov blesses his children with unusual blessings.  We imagine blessings to be good wishes or promises for the future, here though Yaakov seems to bless his children by describing them, their strengths and weaknesses, in some instances, such as Shimon and Levi, only mentioning their weaknesses.  What kind of blessing…

  • Hanukkah 2011: A Hanukkah Irony

    Hanukkah today is a holiday of great irony. Though not a Biblical holiday, and certainly not Judaism’s most essential holiday, Hanukkah has taken on an exaggerated importance in America, due I think, to its calandrical proximity with one of Christianity’s most important festivals. Hanukkah commemorates the war in the year 166 B.C.E. between the Jews…

  • Were our Avot Perfect? (Part 2)

    Last week I wrote a blog post on another blog in which I suggested Abraham had on some level failed the test of bringing his son Isaac as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah.  That instead of bringing him perhaps the more ethical response would have been to protect the innocent child even in the face…

  • Purim 2011: Purim Versus Halloween

    The leaves fall and the air turns crisp and an underlying feeling of fear and foreboding enters our neighborhoods.   Graves pop us in front yards along with skeletons and the like, bringing death out of its boundaries and into our domains.  Parents, many Jewish parents included, will encourage their children to dress up in frightful…

  • Rosh Hashanah: A day of Insight not Atonement

    What is the difference between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?  We often refer to both as days of judgment, yet they seem as different as night and day.  Rosh Hashanah is a Yom Tov, a joyous holiday, on which we eat and drink and have simcha, joy.   In contrast, on Yom Kippur we are filled with awe and…

  • Rosh Hashanah 2011

    On September 17th and 18th this year Jewish people around the world will celebrate the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.   The word Rosh Hashanah does not mean “new year,” it literally means in Hebrew, “The head of the year.”     Our head is the limb that controls our body, which contains our brains, our faces,…

  • Shavuot 2011 – Seeing the Sincerity in Those with Whom we Disagree

    It is not easy for the Jewish people to see themselves as one. They label each other heretics and fanatics, and deem each other guilty of undermining the welfare, identity, and religious underpinnings of the Jewish people as a whole. Some have noted that unfortunately it often takes persecution to bring Jewish unity.   Hitler…

  • Passover 2011 – The 10th Plague and the Sanctification of the First Born

    In the past few Torah portions we have been reading of the Jewish People’s Exodus from Egypt.  The 10th plague, the smiting of the firstborn, seems to be the final catalyst which precipitates Pharos’ freeing of the slaves.  Curiously, just after the firstborn in Egypt are killed the Jewish people are told, “…therefore you shall sanctify…

  • Rediscovering Prayer

    Perhaps I speak only for myself but I think generally we have lost the concept of prayer.  The upside of prayer in the Orthodox community is that we do it often.  But this is also the downside.  As a result of the commonness of our prayer I think, at least for me, prayer often can…