For diaspora Jews concerned with our relationship to the State of Israel, this Tuesday’s quincentenary of the Protestant Reformation provides a delicious opportunity to imagine tactical possibilities moving forward.
October 13, 2017
To Begin Again
Occasion(s) / B’reishit
It is still too early, far too early, to distill the lyrical worldview of Tom Petty into a single statement.
October 06, 2017
Build Yourself a Hut
Occasion(s) / Sukkot
This year marks the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of one of the most important figures of the American literary canon, and, by a certain telling, the creator of one of the most important sukkahs ever built in America.
September 30, 2017
All That You Leave Behind
Occasion(s) / Yom Kippur
“The Watch” is the name of an autobiographical tale told by Elie Wiesel in his 1965 book One Generation After. Wiesel shares the story of his first, and what would be his only, return to the town of his birth, Sighet, Transylvania, since the conclusion of World War II.
September 30, 2017
The Ring of Forgiveness
Occasion(s) / Yom Kippur
The date was October 14, 2003; the location, Wrigley Field – specifically, Aisle 4, Row 8, Seat 113. The scene was the eighth inning of game six of the National League Championship Series, with the Chicago Cubs up three games to two against the Florida Marlins.
September 29, 2017
The Memories We Share
Occasion(s) / Yom Kippur, Yizkor
This past year our community was honored to welcome the renowned author Malcolm Gladwell for a lecture, a visit that afforded me the opportunity to acquaint and reacquaint myself with his prolific and always insightful writing.
September 20, 2017
The Belly of the Whale
Occasion(s) / Rosh Hashanah
Of all the works of God’s creation, perhaps the most curious and, for our purposes today, the most important, is described in the Zohar, our people’s foundational text of Jewish mysticism.
September 19, 2017
From Generation to Generation
Occasion(s) / Erev Rosh Hashanah
Two score, ten years, and six months ago, Malcolm Cosgrove was invited to Shabbat dinner. The setting was the London young professional Jewish scene: twenty-something transplants from the provinces gathering in each other’s homes for community, a home-cooked meal, maybe a shidduch.
September 08, 2017
The Story of My Life
Occasion(s) / Ki Tavo
Back in the day, when I was a PhD student in Bible, I had the occasion to study the German theologian and scholar Gerhard von Rad.
June 09, 2017
Thinking Abundantly
Occasion(s) / B’ha·alot’kha
Before you lift your head off the pillow in the morning, before you get out of bed or use the washroom, even before you check your iPhone, you must, according to tradition, recite the words Modeh ani l’fanekha melekh hai v’kayam, she-hehezarta bi nishmati b’hemlah, rabbah emunatekha, “Th