Three weeks ago, I had the chance to revisit one of the great “could have–would have–should-haves” of my life, a regret that I have carried with me ever since college.
April 05, 2013
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Occasion(s) / Sh’mini
When you leave the synagogue today, pause to look at the bronze relief on the front façade of the building above the Madison Avenue entrance.
April 01, 2013
Imagining the Past
Occasion(s) / Pesach
Strangely, the lens of history can at one and the same time serve both to clarify and to blur our understanding of the past.
March 25, 2013
Dew
Occasion(s) / Pesach
Nine times out of ten, there is a direct correlation between cantorial bravura and theological stakes on the table.
March 15, 2013
It's About Time
Occasion(s) / Va-yikra
Before you take your first bite of matzah next week, ask yourself the following question: What is the matzah meant to symbolize?
March 02, 2013
The Search for Truth
Occasion(s) / Ki Tissa
Yesh koneh olamo b’sha’ah ehat, “There are those,” explains the Talmud, “who acquire eternity in a single hour.” (Avodah Zarah 17a). For Pope Benedict XVI, now Pope Emeritus, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that hour occurred on April 19, 2005.
February 23, 2013
An Immodest Proposal
Occasion(s) / T’tzavveh
Generally speaking, the festival of Purim is not meant to be the starting point for delicate discussions concerning Jewish practice and identity. It is a joyous holiday, celebrating Esther and Mordechai’s courage in the face of Haman’s wickedness.
February 16, 2013
A Heart of Many Rooms
Occasion(s) / T’rumah
I do not know if Rabbi David Hartman ever spoke at Park Avenue Synagogue, but I do know that his Torah is taught here every day. Rabbi Hartman passed away at the age of 81 on Sunday in Jerusalem, following a long illness.
February 09, 2013
Plastic Shmastic
Occasion(s) / Mishpatim
It is not difficult, not difficult at all, to identify the low point of my mission to Ethiopia last week. We arrived in Addis Ababa on Monday and took a commuter plane to Gondar, the regional airport closest to where the historic – and now last – remnant of the Ethiopian Jewish community lives.
January 19, 2013
The Prophetic Imagination
Occasion(s) / Bo
Only a person tone deaf to history could fail to appreciate the remarkable calendrical convergence taking place in our country this weekend.