The Life and Death and Life of Books
As a congregational rabbi, I am used to the ebbs and flows of time and ritual. Shabbat comes every week, the holidays cycle every year, there will always be births and deaths, weddings and b’nai mitzvah. But every so often an opportunity arises that a rabbi will participate in only once (maybe twice) in a ...
Torah tl;dr: Getting Caught Up…
I've neglected to post my most recent podcast episode, though it does appear in the separate page. So here are the most recent episodes. And, as I reach my two-year anniversary of the podcast, I'm going to take a little summer hiatus from my weekly episodes. But, you can still catch me on my other ...
יני ולורל בדבור אחד/Yanny and Laurel in One Utterance
The Internet sensation of the moment is the Yanny/Laurel debate in which a recording of the word “Laurel” from a vocabulary website was discovered to sound like the word “Yanny” by some listeners. I’m not going to go too in depth as to the background, but long story short, some people who listen to the ...
“We Will Do and We Will Hear”: Words Shared at the WA Poor Peoples Campaign Rally
I had the honor to speak at the Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival rally and demonstration at the State Capitol this past Monday. It was the first of six weekly gatherings happening around the country and in Washington, DC: My name is Rabbi Seth Goldstein and I am honored and proud ...
Torah tl;dr: “Behar-Behukotai”
We are all servants. Listen to the latest episode of my podcast here: 60 SECONDS TO WISDOM. Short teachings on the weekly Torah portion. Suitable for all who seek.
The Spirituality of Volcanoes
This posting was originally posed on the Rabbis Without Borders blog on My Jewish Learning. You can read the original here. While perhaps we are more familiar with the destructive nature of earthquakes and hurricanes and tornados, since they occur more frequently and make the national news more often, I have come to understand the ...
Torah tl;dr: “Emor”
Our wild edges. Listen to the latest episode of my podcast here: 60 SECONDS TO WISDOM. Short teachings on the weekly Torah portion. Suitable for all who seek.
Lessons Learned Inside, and Outside, a Cave
Today is Lag B'Omer, the 33rd day of the Omer. It is a minor holiday that falls during the Omer, the seven-week period that connects Passover and Shavuot. The name literally means "The 33rd of the Omer." There are several meanings that are associated with this day. One is that it marks the yartzeit (anniversary ...
Why We Need Another Jewish Holiday
While we celebrate our religious High Holidays in the fall, this week marked the contemporary “secular” Jewish observances of Yom Hashoah and Yom Ha’atzma’ut—Holocaust Remembrance Day and Israel Independence Day. Both of these days mark fundamental aspects of the contemporary Jewish experience that are worthy of recognition. And both of these days challenge us. Yom ...
