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Sep 19, 2021
A word of thanks, and reflections on Sukkot
First of all, I want to thank you ALL. It was really wonderful for me to feel how each and every one of you has received me in the...


Mar 5, 2021
Thou shalt not be a bystander
Perhaps you heard of the recent kerfuffle when Meyers Leonard, a player for the NBA's Miami Heat, was found to have used an all-too...


Oct 15, 2020
Finding meaning in ritual and routine
Most of us have routines; set ways in which we like to do things. Such routines are comfortable and comforting. If a routine is upset for...


Jan 19, 2020
Giving thanks
As we come into January, many of us will be watching football, whether of the College Championship variety (Go Buckeyes!) or the...


Jan 1, 2020
In Every Generation…
I sometimes wonder if other ethnic groups and religions spend as much time worrying about their ultimate survival as we Jews do. I think...


Oct 31, 2019
Why do Jews always answer a question with a question?
At one point in Junior High School I shared a desk with a particular young lady. Between things, we would talk about this and that and in...


Aug 30, 2018
A mass confession to everything
Multiple times during the course of our Yom Kippur services we recite the confessional, the Viddui, and the Al Chets. Together, they...


Oct 28, 2016
Do children find services boring?
One of the things I enjoy about teaching our children, particularly the younger ones, is that they will say what is on their minds, not...


May 12, 2016
Is no news good news?
Have you seen the news from Israel on local media recently? Neither have I. I was, in fact, struck by the utter paucity of stories from...


Mar 16, 2016
The 39 types of work prohibited on Shabbat
Trying to make an involved subject as simple as possible, the Conservative Jewish rules for Shabbat are pretty much the same as any...


Jun 1, 2015
Shalosh Regalim
The shalosh regalim, or pilgrimage festivals, are the central holidays mandated by Torah. Each of these three celebrations - Pesach,...


May 1, 2015
Dear World, It Appears That You Are Hard To Please
This was sent to me some time ago without attribution. I don’t know if it is copyrighted or not but it is well worth the read. As we...


Apr 1, 2015
Faith & Reason
The section of Torah dealing with the ritual of the red heffer, from the portion of Hukat, opens with the words zot hukat hatorah...


Mar 1, 2015
The Triumph of Evil
In October of 1916, with regard to the domestic issue of temperance, the Reverend Charles F. Aked stated that: “It has been said that for...


Feb 1, 2015
Each One Is Different
In the movie Fiddler on the Roof, young Leibesh asks the rabbi, “Is there a proper blessing for the Czar?” to which the esteemed rabbi...


Dec 1, 2014
“Short Cuts Make Long Delays.”
Much of what we learned (or, perhaps, didn’t learn) in religious school when we were young is not quite the whole truth. This is not a...


Nov 1, 2014
“…Swiftly Flow the Years”
A calendar is really a pretty simple thing; a collection of days, weeks, & months collected onto some sort of grid, paper or electronic,...


Oct 1, 2014
Scholars and Noblemen
There is a remarkable exchange between the rabbis of the Mishnah and those of the Gemara at the end of Tractate Sotah in the the...


Oct 1, 2014
Reflections on Creation
Each year, our celebration of the High Holy Days, renews in me a sense of the orderly passing of time. A mild depression sets in when, at...
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