Rabbi 360

With hearts broken over the ongoing violence in Gaza, especially with the news this week of the most recent killing of humanitarian aid workers, my friend and hevruta Rabbi Andy Vogel and I used our weekly study time to collaborate and compose this prayer for the moment. I plan to share it with my community,…

How does our calendar hint at our redemptive future? Hold on for some technical information and Talmudic argument before we get to the end. This week we welcoming in the new month of Adar II–the special month we add to our calendar during a leap year. Yes, this year in the Jewish calendar is also…

When my state became the first in the nation to legalize “human composting,” I was approached by members of my community who wanted to choose this for their disposition after death. This set me down a course of research and study, reflection and writing about how we can approach this new technology through a Jewish…

The past two weeks we have been reading in the Torah about the building of the mishkan (Tabernacle)—the portable structure that is to accompany the Israelites in their journey—as well as the furnishings and tools that were used for all of the various functions and sacrifices. We also read of the priests, their initiation, and…

Below are two recent pieces I have shared, both reacting to various dimensions of these times. The first is a reflection on joy and sorrow that I shared on social media (I share it here too since I know not everyone does social media.) For the better part of two years now, I have shared…

I find some of the most heartfelt, searing, and enduring words in the Torah to be found in this past week’s parasha: “Will you sweep away the innocent along with the guilty?” These words are found in the story of the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18. God has decided that the…

There is a story in the Talmud (Kiddushin 39b) that has occupied a lot of my spiritual mindspace as of late, wanted to share it with you. The story is about a bunch of rabbis—the Talmud, so that we can orient ourselves, is a text developed after the Bible, after the destruction of the ancient…

You can watch me deliver this sermon here. We gather once again at this time, and once again, we have an opportunity to look back and reflect on what lessons the past year has brought to inform our lives moving forward. And as you know, I do not just advocate for this work as a…

This week we read parashat Shoftim in the Torah, in which we are reminded of the importance of tzedek, or justice. And this week we usher in the new month of Elul, in which we are reminded of the importance of teshuvah, or repentance. The two concepts are interconnected, for one of the ways that…