In retrospect, Shavuot would have been a far more sensible time to deliver a sermon on the subject of conversion. “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
May 30, 2014
Check Your Jewish Privilege
Occasion(s) / Naso
Although the expression has been in use for twenty-five years, it was not until two weeks ago that I actually heard the phrase “check your privilege.” Coined by social justice activist Peggy McIntosh in a 1988 article called “Unpacking the Invisible Backpack,” the expression “check your privilege
May 16, 2014
Doing Jewish With Other Jews
Occasion(s) / B’hukkotai
One of the most intriguing, intelligent and important articles written this year on the subject of Jewish identity came from a totally unanticipated and at least to me, unknown source.
May 09, 2014
How Jewish Should the Jewish State Be?
Occasion(s) / B’har
In the pantheon of great rabbinic debates, the controversy between the Ridbaz and Rav Kook on the issue of the heter mechirah may not rank in the top ten or even twenty.
April 25, 2014
Israel: Can't We All Just Get Along?
Occasion(s) / K’doshim
Of the towering figures of twentieth century Jewry, few stood as tall as Rabbi Dr. Louis Finkelstein, z”l.
April 11, 2014
Strangers in a Land Not Their Own
Occasion(s) / Shabbat HaGadol
If the wicked child were sitting at the Global Planning Table of the Jewish People rather than at the Seder table, the response he would receive would be of a decidedly different and far more embracing nature. “What does this service mean to you?” the chutzpah-filled child asks.
March 21, 2014
On Ritual Innovation
Occasion(s) / Sh’mini
It was this Sabbath, Shabbat Parah of 1922, that American Jewish history and arguably all of Jewish history changed forever, and in my opinion, for the better.
March 01, 2014
On Religious Leadership
Occasion(s) / P’kudei
Goldstein was pulled over by the police one night around two in the morning. After checking over his ID and noting his advanced age, the policeman asked Goldstein exactly where he was headed at that time of night.
February 22, 2014
God Enough Sometimes Is
Occasion(s) / Va-yak·hel
In a commencement speech to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College, the late David Foster Wallace began his remarks with the following parable:
February 08, 2014
It's Not About You
Occasion(s) / T’tzavveh
No matter how humble Moses may have been, I have to believe that the opening verses of this week’s Torah reading hit him like a ton of bricks.