On Shabbat, we compared the social protest of Korah–which was all about personal privilege–to that of my AJWS global justice fellowship in the Dominican Republic in our recent trip. I will be speaking more extensively about my experiences in the global justice fellowship in the weeks and months to come, and will also share my Continue Reading »
As I mentioned in my May Dateline article, I’m fortunate to have been invited to participate in the American Jewish World Service’s NY-area global justice fellowship. We’ve been learning about and organizing around a very powerful advocacy campaign called We Believe. In the most basic terms, We Believe affirms three things: that no one should ever be a victim of Continue Reading »
Last Shabbat, I spoke about tzara’at habayit, the version of ritual impurity that attacks not the body or clothing, but the home. We studied the commentary of the Kli Yakar, Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz, noting that this is the only affliction that is linked to the Israelites’ possessing the land. As we learned, his message is that Continue Reading »
I hope that you are having a festive Pesah and that your seders, either at home or on the road, were meaningful. Every year, as I lead the seder, I strive for the right combination of ingredients: some chanting of the traditional text, lots of singing, and plenty of good conversation about the Exodus and Continue Reading »
How do we celebrate our independence as Americans? Well, on July 4, we get the day off from work, we often get together for a barbeque, share an adult beverage, maybe even participate in a Fourth of July parade, and finish our day with Fireworks by Grucci. We wear our American flag t-shirts from Old Continue Reading »
I must begin with a confession: Pesah is my favorite holiday. I know this won’t sit well with some Jews, for whom slave labor is associated with the present and not the past. But the Haggadah is my favorite book, and if treated in accordance with the intent of the tradition, Pesah can indeed be Continue Reading »
It was just your average 15-hour day in Washington. Not all of those 15 hours were spent on the security line just to enter the Washington Convention Center, though it seemed it might take that long as we gathered at 6:45 am to make our way to breakfast for rabbis with Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman, Continue Reading »
To borrow a line from a colleague: it’s USY International Convention on steroids. I am thrilled to participate along with 16,000 others at this the largest AIPAC Policy Conference ever. There are more than 500 rabbis and religious leaders here. There are more than 3,000 high school and college students! There are plenty of people Continue Reading »
On Shabbat morning, we talked about the evolving definition of Judaism as crafted by the World Zionist Organization. We saw that in 1897, at the first Zionist Congress in Basle, the aim of political Zionism was to garner support–among world Jewry and world leaders–for the idea of a Jewish homeland. Come 1951, with that mission Continue Reading »
The weather wasn’t so nice on Shabbat, so for those who missed it, here’s a brief review of what I discussed in shul. As the Israelites saw dead Egyptians on the shore of the Sea of Reeds, what were they thinking? On the one hand, they must have been happy to see their enemies thesuffer. Continue Reading »
