Two Brothers and An Angel – Reflections on Jewish Communal Divisions on Israel/Palestine
For the last eight years since I’ve been a Midwestern rabbi, I’ve stood by the premise that ‘the periphery is the cutting-edge.’
For the last eight years since I’ve been a Midwestern rabbi, I’ve stood by the premise that ‘the periphery is the cutting-edge.’
In Jewish mysticism, there exists the concept of ‘Adam Kadmon’, the Primordial Adam.
The eighth day, with its solemnity and final prayers for rain and repentance, lead into the joy of Simchat Torah.
It is important to note that there is a distinction between grieving a person and grieving a reality.
The rabbinic sage Elisha ben Abuya witnessed an obedient and pious boy fulfill the mitzvah of sending away the mother bird, as per the Torah’s instructions. He ascended the tree, shooed away the bird, collected the eggs and then fell to his death.
Few things are as instructive as seeing Judaism through another’s eyes.
The cool, distant glare of history does not always reveal the granular, immediate heat of our anguish.
This Shabbat is also known as Shabbat Shirah, the Sabbath of Song. This name refers to ‘Shirat haYam’, the ‘Song of the Sea’ that Moses and Miriam sang on the shores of the Sea of Reeds that they had redemptively crossed. I hope you’ll please indulge me as I start with this sermon with a […]