Not once, not twice, not three times, but more times than I can count this past summer I was struck by the thought, “Thank God I am not preaching this Shabbat.” Summers at Park Avenue Synagogue, construction notwithstanding, are a delightfully quiet time.
June 14, 2019
Eighteen Years is Plenty
Occasion(s) / Naso
Of all the emotions I have experienced these past two weeks as my oldest daughter graduated from high school – pride, nachas, wistful nostalgia, profound gratitude, and overwhelming love – the emotion that I did not count on and have felt most deeply is panic.
June 08, 2019
OY
Occasion(s) / Shavuot
Next time you enter the Metropolitan Museum of Art, keep going straight behind the information desk and continue beneath the stairs; pass the David plates to your right, and come into the Medieval Sculpture Hall.
May 31, 2019
You're Never Off the Court
Occasion(s) / B’hukkotai
In 1919, when the great Irish poet William Butler Yeats penned what is perhaps his most famous poem, “The Second Coming,” he saw a world on the edge of collapse.
May 17, 2019
What We Talk About When We Talk About Israel
Occasion(s) / Emor
Sometimes, the things we talk about are not really what we are talking about. It could be mundane: a spouse, let’s say, neglects to unload the dishwasher.
May 10, 2019
Twenty Years a Rabbi
Occasion(s) / K’doshim
Sitting in the Rabbinical Assembly convention this past week in Montreal – I was reminded of a distinction my father made to me and my brothers growing up.
April 26, 2019
Messiah's Meal
Occasion(s) / Pesach
This afternoon, as most Jews are busy counting down the minutes until their first post-Passover bite of pizza, members of the Chabad community will be sitting down at thousands of tables across the world to participate in what is called Seudat HaMoshiach, the Messiah’s meal.
April 05, 2019
Isaac Mayer Wise
Occasion(s) / Tazri'a
Of all of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise’s considerable gifts to consider on this week of his 200th birthday, perhaps the most legendary was his ability to take a right hook to the chin.
March 15, 2019
Why We Laugh
Occasion(s) / Va-yikra
Of all the traditions, customs, and comments surrounding this week’s festival of Purim, one of the most curious is found in the second chapter of Maimonides’s Laws of Megillah in his authoritative Mishneh Torah.
March 09, 2019
Varieties of Never Again
Occasion(s) / P’kudei
As a deeply invested stakeholder in the condition of diaspora Jewry, I keep returning of late to the purported Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” On the one hand, our present moment of blessing is without precedent.