• Embracing Life’s Absurdity: Moshe’s Existential Challenge

    This week’s d’var Torah is dedicated to my colleague long ago, Rabbi James Diamond, z”l, a sensitive chacham who first brought this Midrash to my attention and who died tragically—gone in the blink of an eye. This week's Torah portion, Ve’etchanan, begins with Moshe recalling his plea to God to be allowed to enter the…

  • Mourning the Temple in the 21st Century

    This week we commemorated Tisha B’av, the ninth day of the month of Av, the saddest in the Jewish year, on which we recall the destruction of the Temple and the exile. Our state of being for 2000 years was exile. Until 1948 we took exile for granted, and awaited the messiah to come and…

  • 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…