• Reflections on Faith and Freedom from the Civil Rights Trail

    This week I traveled with the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington to Alabama with 20 rabbis from the DMV. (I suppose I should entitle this week’s email: “Letter from a Hotel in Montgomery”.) We went to Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery; we visited Dr. Martin Luther King’s parsonage, the Rosa Parks Museum, and other important spots on the…

  • Insights from Maimonides on Prayer and Free Will

    This week’s Torah portion, Bo, opens with a theologically perplexing verse: “God said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart…’”. The question we have all asked is how God can punish Pharaoh if God has hardened Pharaoh’s heart to prevent him from freeing the people. After all, without free choice, it would…

  • Pharaoh’s Pride and the Plagues

    In this week’s Haftorah for Parshat Vaera, God says to the prophet Yechezkel: “Turn your face against Pharaoh King of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. Speak these words: Thus says the Lord, I am going to deal with you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the big Tanin, who crouches in the Nile…

  • The Dual Metaphors of Jewish Proliferation in Egypt

    This week’s parshat, Shemot, states that the Jewish people were fruitful in Egypt and multiplied: “And the Jewish people were fruitful and multiplied and swarmed and very much increased and became robust, and the land was filled with them.” This term, “vayishritzu”, “swarmed,” as a noun means “insects” and as a verb means “to reproduce,” in…

  • Unity Through Equal Contribution and Respect for All Jews

    This week is Shabbat Shekalim, which commemorates the giving of the half shekel to the Tabernacle in the desert.    There were two kinds of gifts to the Tabernacle -any amount and any material one wanted to give, from the goodness of their heart, -and the half shekel which everyone had to give.  The poor…

  • Navigating the Slippery Slope

    In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa, the Jewish people make and worship the golden calf after which Moshe comes down the mountain and breaks the tablets.   This parsha is bookended by God giving the instructions for making the Tabernacle to Moshe and Moshe telling the Jewish people how to build it. Rash”i reads…

  • The True Fulfillment of Terumah

    This week’s Torah portion, Terumah, begins: “Speak to the children of Israel, and they should take terumah (gifts/donation) for me, from every person who’s heart gives, shall you take my terumah.”    The Torah then proceeds to list the types of gifts that the jewish people should give for the building of the Tabernacle, such…

  • Cultivating Awareness and Holiness Through Jewish Law

    This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim, is filled with the laws.  This parsha comes right after the giving of the Torah because law is so central to Jewish life.   It is one of Orhtodox Judaism’s hallmarks and great strengths that halacha, Jewish law, is at the pulsating center of individual and communal life-but it is…

  • 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…

  • A King Who Does Not Know Joseph: Lessons on Jewish Loyalty and Persecution

    In the preceding Torah portions we have seen Joseph exercise his power with great loyalty on behalf of Pharaoh and Egypt.  He not only saves everyone from famine, but in the process makes Pharaoh even richer by using the stored grain to bring all agricultural land under the ownership of Pharaoh and render all of…

  • The Transformational Leadership of Miriam

    This past Saturday night I had the privilege of learning about the Torah portion with the children of Kesher Israel at our monthly Parent-Child learning program.   We looked at leadership in this week’s parsha.  Moshe is one kind of leader -0his character of leadership seems to be concern for individuals and sticking up for…

  • The Jewish Perspective on Truth and Governance

    The Shulchan Aruch, Code of Jewish Law, states that if three identical pieces of meat, one which is unkosher and two which are kosher, become mixed together in one container, we are permitted to eat all of them.  We know that one of these pieces is not kosher, and yet as we pull each one…

  • Breaking Free from Narrow Thinking

    Our era, ironically, has been called the age of communication.  When I was young, making a phone call from Israel to the United States cost a great deal and was not simple, so one might speak to their relatives abroad only rarely.   When my oldest was in Israel about 5 years ago calling was…

  • A Reflection on Free Will and the Role of Perspective

    The ten plagues in last week’s and this week’s Torah portions present us with the age-old philosophical dilemma: How can God punish Pharaoh if God has hardened Pharaoh’s heart?  Justice dictates that reward and punishment can only be for violations or merits which are the product of one’s free will. Maimonides takes the Torah at…

  • Miracles or Relationship? Finding God Within Us

    In this week’s parsha, Bishalach, the Jewish people witness the splitting of the sea, manna from heaven and water from a rock, and yet at the end of the parsha they seemingly have the audacity to ask, “Hayesh Hashem bikirbenu, im ayin?,”  “Is God in our midst or not?”  (Exodus 17:7).  God clearly is doing…

  • Finding Passion and Creativity in Jewish Prayer

    Is prayer an essential part of Jewish observance?   On the one hand organized thrice daily prayer is something fairly “new” in Judaism, instituted to take the place of the sacrifices which were lost with the destruction of the Temple.   On the other hand prayer goes all the way back to our ancestors who…

  • Adapting Leadership for a Changing World

    Several Parshiot ago when God appears to Moshe at the burning bush and asks him to take the Jewish people out of Egypt, the following conversation ensues: “Moshe said, “What if they do not believe me and do not listen to me, but say: The LORD did not appear to you?”   The LORD said…

  • Amar’e Stoudemire, Yitro, and the Power of Embracing the Jewish Mission

    Today a national NBA basketball star, Amar’e Stoudemire, joined us for daveing.  Now retired from playing and a coach of the Brooklyn Nets, this almost seven foot tall black convert to Judaism is inspired to daven with a minyan wherever he is.  He has no want for money or honor, I’m sure he can have…

  • From Insecurity to Strength: Moshe’s Journey of Growth

    Moshe’s heart is in the right place, he takes action to defend the weak and cares about those who are suffering.  Nevertheless, for three reasons Moshe does not seem like a very good choice as leader.  (1) He thinks himself incapable, telling God over and over that this is the case.  But it is in…

  • How Hearing and Sharing Narratives Brings Transformation

    This past shabbat i spoke of Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law.   The Torah tells us Yitro heard all that God did for the Jewish people in redeeming them from Egypt and came to moses and the Jewish people in the desert at Mount Sinai.   A few verses latter Moses tells Yitro the story of God…