Who Is A Jew? Identity In The Wilderness
It was fascinating to start receiving DNA matches, including my daughter (whew!), connecting with some long-lost relatives, and learning about some distant ones whom I never knew existed. I get as far back as my great-grandparents, and then the history appears to end. My husband, whose father was part of the Egyptian Karite community, has information going back 12 or 13 generations because excellent records have been kept and kept up.
Standing Up 2.0
I wasn’t raised to be an activist, and I hate large crowds, so I tend to stay away from huge rallies. I was raised to treat people the way I want to be treated, to see beyond differences that are only skin-deep, and that as a Jew, it’s my obligation to help make the world a better place.
Joseph and the Art of Grandparenting
In fact, when we take a deeper dive into the 23 verses that make up this chapter, we find so many things that might parallel the grandparent-parent-grandchild relationships in today’s world. The chapter begins with Joseph being told that his father is sick, and he takes his sons, Menashe and Ephraim, to visit.
Rosh Hashanah 5785-After October 7
After September 1st, when six Israeli hostages were found having recently been murdered by Hamas, just about every Facebook post and email I saw began with, “There are no words…” Including mine. Then each poster or sender went on for about 200-500 words.
Hukkat: Our Flowing Wells
We know how vital water is to life, to our planet, to our universe, but this isn’t about environmental responsibility; it’s about our own personal wells and the waters that flow from them.
Moses & Yitro At The Mountain
Rules and Laws are all well and good, but there’s no point in making them if they can’t be enforced and understood. The Torah brilliantly opens parashat Yitro by (sort of) reuniting Moses with his family, brought to him by his father-in-law, Yitro. I say “sort of,” because the text never tells us that Moses reunited with Tzippora, his wife, and his sons, Gershom and Eliezer, just Yitro!
Chayeh Sarah-What We Learn From Abraham
This week’s Torah reading is Chaye Sarah, the life of Sarah. However, it begins by telling us she died, and that Abraham was unprepared. It’s questionable as to whether or not he was even present at the time, as the text tells us that she died in Kiryat Arba (now Hebron), and we know from last week’s parashah that Abraham was in Be’er Sheva, where he went after sacrificing a ram in place of his son, Isaac.
Artificial and Real Intelligence: Rosh Hashanah 5784
As we gather on this auspicious occasion of Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate not only the Jewish New Year but also what is often referred to as the “Birthday of the world.” The concept of creation holds a profound place in our faith, and today, I’d like to explore how this ancient belief intersects with our modern reality, particularly in the context of artificial intelligence.
Mindfulness-Erev Rosh Hashanah 5784
A few months ago, a couple of my colleagues mentioned using an app called Ten Percent Happier, by former ABC news anchor Dan Harris, for meditation and mindfulness. No, he’s not paying me to talk about the app, or the benefits of meditation, and even though one of his parents is Jewish, I doubt it ever crossed his mind that some rabbi somewhere would use his app as a jumping off point for a Rosh Hashanah sermon.
Eikev: Mindfully Eating Our Fill
One of my first classes in rabbinical school at AJR was “Contemplative Practice” with Rabbi Jill Hammer. One of the assignments had to do with “mindful eating,” where you take a small food item–perhaps a grape or raisin– look at it, touch it, squeeze it, smell it, recite a blessing… you get the picture. Finally, you eat it.
Yom Kippur: Hope, Despair And A Shining Sun
Like many of the quotes and poems that make their way into use, a poem attributed to an anonymous person in a concentration camp, or in hiding, became somewhat of an urban legend, and has often been taken out of context, as well as not accurately translated. That poem begins, “I believe in the sun, even when it isn’t shining.”
Kindness
On Rosh Hashanah, we began our prayers in the hopes of moving God, the Holy Blessed One, from kisei din, the throne or seat of judgment, to kisei rachamim, the throne or seat of compassion. Ten days later, here we are at the eve of Yom Kippur, preparing for the next 25 hours of fasting, prayer and introspection, and hoping that we will be inscribed and sealed for another year of life and blessing.
Shema: Listening, Hearing and the Shofar
Usually, we think of “The Shema” as the verses we chant or sing from the book of Devarim, Deuteronomy, and in that context, it’s a bold theological statement. It is an idea which goes to the heart of what it means to be a Jew. Once called the watchword of our faith, the Shema traditionally is among the first words we utter in the morning upon waking and the last words we say at bedtime, and from ancient times, we are invited to make these six words the final words on our lips as we pass on from this world.
A Time For fixing, A Time for Finishing
As I sit in my home, I hear things calling to me. Often, they’re coated in chocolate, but not always. More often, they’re unfinished projects, clutter, things that need new homes. I walk by, and they taunt me. I think, “It will take me 5 minutes, I should sit down and do this.” But I don’t. And I know why.
Shoftim: Can Destruction be Just?
The spotted lantern fly, what do we do? Sefer HaChinuchfinds an even deeper teaching embedded in the principle of bal taschit. He (I assume it’s a he) wrote that the purpose of the mitzvah of bal tashchit is to teach us to love that which is good and worthwhile and to cling to it, so that good becomes a part of us and we will avoid all that is evil and destructive.
Latest Sermons
Who Is A Jew? Identity In The Wilderness
This d'var Torah was written for the website of the Academy for Jewish Religion (ajr.edu) A few years ago, for Mother’s Day, my kids gave me a DNA-testing kit from Ancestry.com. Not surprisingly, the results came back as 99% Ashkenazi Jewish with 1% various...
Standing Up 2.0
Graphic of the post for the commemorative event, NAACP Lakeview Branch On May 12, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Lakeview, on the other side of Ocean Avenue from Malverne, to support school desegregation. In fact, the Malverne school district, which...
Joseph and the Art of Grandparenting
In the interest of full disclosure, I’m not a grandparent, but I had grandparents, and so did my children. Yes, there are some kids who call me “Rabbi Grandma,” but that’s not quite the same thing. Under most circumstances, I would have glossed over Genesis Chapter 48...
Latest Midrash HaZak
Chukat: The Red Heifer and Our Stuff, Rabbi Andra Greenwald
Photo Credit: Rennett Stowe on Flickr Chukat: The Red Heifer and Our Stuff Rabbi Andra Greenwald Is it sacrilegious to feel that some pieces of the Torah just don’t make sense? In parshat Chukat, the Law of the Red Heifer presents us with one of the statutes for which...
Devarim: The Power of Retelling, Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman
Image from Medfield, MA public library, wallaceshealy-com-OPvCP3-clipart The Power of Retelling Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman A few weeks ago, I was invited to speak to a university class about being one of the first generation of women and queer rabbis. At these kinds of...
Mattot: What Words Can Create, Ilene Winn-Lederer
Illustration ©2009-Ilene Winn-Lederer Mattot: What Words Can Create Ilene Winn-Lederer Although I grew up with a strong Jewish identity, I did not experience a traditional Jewish education and came to Torah in my late teens through influential involvement with a...
Latest Personal Blogs
Blessing My Bended Knees-A Poem
This past week, I participated in a Ritualwell class with Alden Solovy on "Writing From One Word of Torah." I distilled 3 stream-of-consciousness prompts on the word "Baruch/Berekh," the root of which can mean "blessing' and "knee, into this poem. Blessing my bended...
The Eshet Hayil In Our Lives
Photo: publicdomainpictures.net The Eshet Hayil In Our Lives An email from My Jewish Learning about “A Woman of Valor” prompted me to pivot the next evening’s planned adult learning session to looking at these 22 verses from Mishlei, the Book of Proverbs. These verses...
Live Long and Prosper?
By Oklahoma Heritage Association, Gaylord-Pickens Museum - Author, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25656727 Live Long and Prosper? January 5, 2022 began the third year of the seven and a half-year cycle of Daf Yomi, the practice of...