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Happy 2015!
I wrote this yesterday as my Facebook status, thought I’d share on my blog as well: Today is a day to celebrate and plan. December 31 has particular resonance for me as a time of renewal because it was this day 2 years ago that I was admitted to the hospital with what would turn…
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Hello New Year, Goodbye New York
On Monday my parents got into their car and left New York for good. It was a move they have been planning of late. My mother retired from teaching a few years ago, and my father was winding down his career as an attorney. Full retirement was on the horizon. My sister and I were…
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2014 in review
This is a neat thing. As they tell me “The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.” I enjoy writing this blog. If you like it too please share with your friends! Happy Gregorian New Year! Here’s an excerpt: A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog…
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Joseph and the Jewish Christmas
My posting is a bit later than usual this week because of the holiday. Yes, that holiday. After all these years, I think I am still figuring out what it means to be a Jew on Christmas. Growing up where I did in New York, with a large Jewish population, it seemed that Christmas celebrators…
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Hanukkah and Power: #BlackLivesMatter
Like with much of our religious traditions and sacred stories (or really anything for that matter) what we learn as kids is revealed to be much more complicated as adults. Take the Hanukkah story for example. The general narrative is of the Maccabees, a Jewish family which lead a revolt against the oppressive tactics of…
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The Festival of Happy Lights
My latest on the My Jewish Learning/Rabbis Without Borders blog. Wishing you and yours a Happy Hanukkah! http://www.myjewishlearning.com/blog/rabbis-without-borders/2014/12/17/the-festival-of-happy-lights/
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Investing in Oil, Lighting our Future
We are perhaps all familiar with the story of Hanukkah, which begins this coming Tuesday night. In the second century BCE, the Jewish community was under the tyrannical rule of the Syrian-Greek king Antiochus IV, who imposed a series of harsh anti-Jewish measures on the population. He forbade the practice of Judaism, imposed Hellenizing policies…
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“I Nearly Died. This is What.” (On Redemption)
One of the joys of travel on a Sunday is the ability to read the New York Times Sunday edition cover to cover. Since rabbis work on Sundays, my duties usually preclude this, and I dole out the sections over the course of the week. A few weeks ago, however, I found myself on a…
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The First and Future Thanksgiving
One of my challenges as a rabbi is to make Judaism relevant across demographics. Part of the challenge comes from the fact that what necessitates how we teach Judaism to kids is different than how we teach Judaism to adults. And very often I find that people who study Judaism as adults are surprised by…
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Rabbi 360 