Perhaps the most important thing to say about the spring of 1967 is just how different the world was then than it is today. The memory of the Holocaust – the six million murdered at the hands of the Nazis while the world stood by watching – was a wound still fresh.
May 23, 2017
Third Annual Leadership Workshop - Mission Alignment
Occasion(s) / Other
It is a fortuitous coincidence that tonight’s leadership development session is taking place in these days between Passover and Shavuot.
May 20, 2017
Judaism and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Occasion(s) / B’hukkotai
When I heard of the sad passing of Robert Pirsig last month at the age of eighty-eight, I decided to once again pick up my copy of his first and most famous book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, having not touched it since college.
May 12, 2017
For the Sake of Zion
Occasion(s) / Emor
Like baseball and apple pie, America’s protection of free speech sits at the heart of who we are as a nation. “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press . .
April 21, 2017
Betwixt and Between
Occasion(s) / Sh’mini
Every season of the Jewish year brings with it a certain sentiment: renewal on Rosh Hashanah, repentance on Yom Kippur, playfulness on Purim.
April 17, 2017
One Little Goat
Occasion(s) / Pesach, Yizkor
For a rabbi to preach about the seder on the final day of Passover – a yizkor sermon no less – shows questionable judgment, to say the very least. Like candy corn purchased the day after Halloween, no matter how tasty it may be, its arrival is a little too late.
March 31, 2017
Alephs and Alphas
Occasion(s) / Va-yikra
For as long as my children have been able to sit at the Shabbat table, right after Kiddush and Ha-motzi we have played “Roses, Thorns, and Buds.” We go around the table, every child getting the chance to share their “rose” – the best part of their week gone by, their “thorn” – the worst part of t
March 24, 2017
Taking the Plunge
Occasion(s) / Va-yak·hel
Much has changed since our greatest generation was liberated from Egypt, but the challenges and opportunities that come with being an emancipated mixed multitude remain ours to address.
March 11, 2017
To Officiate or Not to Officiate
Occasion(s) / T’tzavveh
Because the session on intermarriage was exclusive to rabbis and off the record, I am not at liberty to discuss with you the nature of the deliberations that took place in Baltimore two weeks ago at the Rabbinical Assembly convention, the annual international meeting of Conservative rabbis.
March 04, 2017
The Company We Keep
Occasion(s) / T’rumah
Ever since the Garden of Eden, human behavior has only been as good as the company we keep. “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’” asked the serpent of Eve, a not-so-innocent question that prompted Eve to eat of the fruit and encourage Adam to do the same.