Resources

"1. Show up. It's not too late to build relationships."

In parshat Ki Tetze we encounter the case of the ben sorer u’moreh, the wayward and rebellious son. We read in Devarim 21:18-21 that if a child does not obey his mother and father they should bring him out to the gates of the city before a council of elders, publicly declare him a glutton...

A d’var Torah for Parashat Korach I often notice comparing and self-judging thoughts arise when I read about the work of activists: There they are speaking boldly at major rallies, or tweeting or blogging to many followers, or traveling to meet with Important People. What am I doing? Why aren’t I more like them? Then...

In today’s world, rabbis face the challenge of balancing multiple roles in their communal leadership; a rabbi seeks to “comfort the afflicted,” by being a strong pastoral presence to those in need, while at the same time to “afflict the comfortable,” challenge those who are complacent in their lives to awaken to their broader responsibilities...

When the book of Ruth is read each Shavuot, I sometimes have a hard time relating to the idyllic world that the book describes. Sure, Boaz is such an upstanding guy; who wouldn’t want to fall in love with him? Ruth herself is an amazing role model, the Jew-by-choice who becomes the great-grandmother of King...

According to Jewish tradition, for millennia God has been instructing us in how to foster a worthy dwelling place for the Divine Presence. How are we doing? In the beginning it was through the building of a Mishkan. We were told, as found in this week’s parashah, Terumah, to adorn it with precious metals, gorgeous...

I have now heard the moaning of the Israelites because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. (Exodus 6:5) It seems these days I have an endless array of guest speakers in my congregation: about the Syrian refugee crisis, about the death penalty, about homelessness, about the violence fraying...

In the militia headquarters in Odessa decades ago, I was surrounded by harsh interrogators who castigated my friend and me for visiting Russian Jews, who were aliens in their eyes. I felt anger and even hatred at these leaders and their many followers who had made Jewish life impossible for a large segment of our...

This week’s Torah portion is Yitro, named for Moses’s father-in-law, a non-Jew. It is in this parashah that we receive the Ten Commandments and make our covenant with God. So, how could the Rabbis have decided to name such an important parashah after a gentile? In today’s climate of polarization, it is more important than...

The Israelites’ Egyptian bondage was Joseph’s fault. Ok, I admit, the Egyptians were directly to blame. But Joseph’s economic reforms laid the foundation for the enslavement. Let me explain. After Jacob and his sons relocated to Egypt, the famine worsened. Joseph oversaw the collection of funds from the people of Egypt in return for rations...