Dissenting: SCOTUS and the Talmud
On January 5th, I marked one year of Daf Yomi, the practice of studying one page of Talmud per day, every day. Now before you get overly impressed, keep in mind that I often read the page in English, or the summary from My Jewish Learning. Some days I get behind and...
Lighting Up The Darkness
Darkness and light are motifs that have been around since, well, the beginning. Coming as it does at the darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere, Hanukkah–the Festival of Lights–acknowledges the very human desire and need for illumination. If the heavenly...
Vayera, Putting God On Hold
What happens when two things of equal importance are put before you? How do you decide which to focus on? Our Torah reading this week, Vayera, opens with just such a dilemma, “The LORD appeared to [Abraham] by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of...
Back to the Garden
“And now, back to our regularly scheduled program…” The month of Tishrei, which began with the soul-searching of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and ended with the joyous celebrations of Sukkot and Simchat Torah, is about to end, allowing us to settle back into a...
Simchat Torah – The Joys of Beginning and Ending
Twenty-Eight years ago, the day after Simchat Torah, we were blessed with a daughter whose Hebrew name is Simcha Yehudit – “Joy of Judaism” or “Jewish Joy.” The choice of name had nothing to do with the holiday itself, but a happy coincidence. Simchat Torah, one of...
A Huff And A Puff And Then What?
In synagogues all over the world during the festival of Sukkot, the book of Kohelet/Ecclesiastes will be read during services, most likely on Shabbat. Kohelet is one of the “Five Scrolls” in our biblical canon, and each is read on a different occasion; Esther on...
Ruth Bader Ginsberg–A New Judge In The Heavenly Court
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, of Blessed Memory, was a trail-blazer and fierce advocate for the rights of all. She worked tireless so that women and girls in the future might not have to struggle as she did, to be accepted as a woman in a man's...
Standing at the Edge of Promise
In 2003, my parents, of blessed memory, became snowbirds. They spent the winter in Sarasota, Florida and the summer in Trumbull, Connecticut where my sister and I were raised. One year, during the February vacation, we took the kids to my parents, spent a few days all...
No Hebrew? No Problem!
One of the most universal dreams–perhaps nightmares is a better word–are the ones where you show up in class totally unprepared, assuming you can even find the classroom! Of course, everyone else knows exactly what’s going on. I have those dreams, and I’m always...
Ki Tetze, Amalek and Erasing Memory
This week’s Torah reading, Ki Tetze, ends with a command to the Israelites regarding the nation of Amalek, “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt; how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and...
On Becoming A Jew
This week, I had the honor and privilege of helping to welcome four young women into the Jewish Community as they performed the ritual immersion at the mikveh. Each one came to Judaism from a different background and for different reasons; all shared the...
From Mourning to Dancing
In Psalm 30 King David writes, ba-arev yalin bekhi, v’laboker rina, "tears may linger for a night, but joy comes the morning.” The author also blesses the God who “changed my mourning into dancing, my sackcloth into robes of joy, that I might sing praises to you...
The “Duh! Moments” in the Talmud
One of my student pulpits was in Kauneonga Lake, NY, in the Catskills. From July 4th weekend through Labor Day, the bungalow communities, hotels and communities come alive as many Orthodox Jews from the city come up to spend the summer in the fresh air. A weekly...
Batter Up – Stepping Up
Parashat Pinchas is about leadership, and about stepping up to the plate. In contrast to Korach, who rebelled against the leadership of Moses and Aaron for his own purposes, Pinchas, Aaron’s grandson, is rewarded with a brit shalom, a “covenant of friendship...
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to The Temple
In 586 BCE the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and a large part of the Jewish community living in Eretz Israel was exiled to Babylonia. Normally, when a people is exiled to a foreign land, they get absorbed into society and disappear. Not so with us. If...
Latest Sermons
Artificial and Real Intelligence: Rosh Hashanah 5784
Shalom, dear congregants, 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,...
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...
Eikev: Mindfully Eating Our Fill
Photo credit: Rabbi Susan Elkodsi, 2021 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...
Latest Midrash HaZak
Shemini- Forging a Path Forward
Shemini- Forging a Path Forward Rabbi David Levin "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you…" (If, by Rudyard Kipling) How do I handle competing demands? What do I require for myself, and what do my obligations to others...
Bo: Telling Our Story, Enhancing our Senses
Bo: Telling Our Story, Enhancing our Senses Rabbi Sue Live Elwell When we turn to the texts that have accompanied many throughout the days of their lives, we look for directional signs that may be useful to us as we navigate our final days and years. As we age, we...
Emor: Questioning The Status Quo
Emor: Questioning The Status Quo Dr. Betsy Stone I am fascinated by this parsha, with its juxtaposition of HOLY days and UNHOLY people. Emor begins by telling us how a Kohen may be defiled/ritually impure–by visiting a graveyard, shaving parts of their heads or...
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