This evening marks the 200th Yahrzeit of Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav – the man whom Martin Buber called the last Jewish Mystic. Great-grandson to the saintly founder of Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, Rebbe Nachman communicated his mystical wisdom to his disciples by means of symbolic tales.
September 18, 2010
Yom Kippur 5771
Occasion(s) / Yom Kippur
Who is the most tragic figure of the entire Hebrew Bible? My teacher at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Professor Yochanan Muffs, would start each semester with this question, and since his passing last December, I can still imagine him waiting for a response.
September 09, 2010
Why I Am a Jew
Occasion(s) / Rosh Hashanah
A century ago, Israel Zangwill’s play The Melting Pot was the talk of the town. The play was a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The Jewish protagonist, David, immigrates to America from Russia in the wake of the Kishinev Pogroms.
September 08, 2010
Facing Our Humanity
Occasion(s) / Erev Rosh Hashanah
Some of you may recall Oscar Wilde’s classic The Picture of Dorian Gray from your high school reading list. Set in Victorian England, the story begins with young Dorian, a cultured, beautiful and vain man sitting for a portrait.
June 11, 2010
Pyramids of Success
Occasion(s) / Korah
Coach John Wooden passed away in Los Angeles last Friday night, June 4, at the age of 99.
May 28, 2010
What’s So Funny About Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions?
Occasion(s) / B’ha·alot’kha
Vay’hi binsoa ha-aron, va-yomer Moshe, When the Ark was carried forward, Moses would declare: “Kuma Adonai, v’yafutzu oyvekha, v’yanusu m’sanekha mi-panekha, Arise Lord, may your enemies be scattered, may your foes be put to flight.” These words, found in our parasha, Beha’alotkha, are sung at th
May 19, 2010
Yizkor: Retrieving the Past
Occasion(s) / Shavuot, Yizkor
I want to tell you a story about something wonderful that happened to me this past week, very possibly the nicest thing that has happened to me in a long time. It’s a true story, a story-inside-a-story that will require a bit of patience on your part, but I promise it will be well worth it.
May 14, 2010
Kugel on a Hot Sommer Day
Occasion(s) / B’midbar
If every single Jewish studies professor, from every campus across North America, were to get on an airplane that took off, flew away, and never came back again, would Jewish life change at all?
May 07, 2010
A Narrow Bridge
Occasion(s) / B’hukkotai
Kol ha-olam kulo gesher tzar m’od v’ha-ikkar lo l’fahed klal. “The whole world is a very narrow bridge, and the essential thing is not to fear at all.”
April 30, 2010
Pesah Sheni: Second Chances
Occasion(s) / Emor
It may come to you as a surprise to hear that this past week you missed a Jewish holiday.