How does it feel to be homeless in NYC?

“These are the names of the children of Israel, who came towards Mitzrayim.” (Shmot 1:1) I decided to experience firsthand what homelessness feels like. Having the privilege of serving a vibrant and amazing congregation in Manhattan’s prestigious Upper East Side, and living in that same neighborhood, I have never quite felt that my sense of...
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Never Forget the Hungry

This week’s Parashah, Miketz, contains the well known story of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams about the seven fat cows being devoured by the seven skinny cows and the seven healthy sheaves of wheat being displaced by the seven sickly sheaves. Joseph, brought out of his prison cell to interpret the dreams, goes farther and advises Pharaoh...
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“She is more righteous than me”

It was impossible for me to read this week’s Torah portion—or indeed, do much else—without thinking of the House voting, just a week and a half ago, to raise substantially the barriers for Syrian refugees to enter the United States. And I saw an echo of the hysteria—yes, I will call it that—sweeping our country...
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The Pursuit of Justice

This week’s parshah opens with the command, “Give yourself judges and administrators to carry out just decisions…” (Deut. 16:18) On the face of it, this seems to be about how society should be ordered. It needs police, judges, lawyers, and a whole mechanism of justice in order to function rightly. Rather than each individual carrying...
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Inescapable Face

“There is a commandment in the appearance of the face, as if a master spoke to me. However, at the same time, the face of the Other is destitute; it is the poor for whom I can do all, and to whom I owe all. “ —Emmanuel Levinas Rabbi Joshua, the son of Levi, said: at...
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Seeing the Invisible

With the collective stress of thousands of commuters all trying to get from point A to point B, subway transit in New York can be a little overwhelming. When I’m in the city, I deal with the stress like many fellow riders— I behave as though surrounded by a protective bubble. I notice just enough...
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How can a grasshopper change the world?

In the struggle for human rights, it is hard not to feel like a tiny grasshopper scratching at the massive walls of injustice we face all around us. There are so many people who are suffering, so many systems that are deeply broken; there is so much work to do. In parshat Shlach Lecha, God...
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The Logo of the Jewish People

All of Jewish theology can be summed up in this week’s sedra, Beha’alotecha. After many weeks of reading about the events at Mt. Sinai, the cloud of God’s glory lifts from the Tabernacle as a signal for the desert journey to resume (Numbers 10:11). That cloud is the key. We first encountered it as the...
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