Category: Antisemitism

One Hundred Days of . . . (P. Shlah Lekha)

6/7/2026

We've begun the 100-day countdown to Rosh Hashanah. (Yes, it feels too early.)

So it's especially fitting that this week's Torah portion provides tradition's words for the Great Forgiveness attached to the end of Kol Nidre.

But forgiveness for what? What awesome and terrible thing needed divine forgiveness back then? What most needs it now?

Who Counts (P. Bamidbar)

5/25/2025

The fourth book of Torah (Numbers) opens with our desert-wandering ancestors starting their 14th month walking free from Egypt. They begin by taking a census of the Children of Israel, of each separate tribe, and of subsets of the Tribe of Levi dedicated to sacred service. Thousands of years later, Auschwitz survivors bore numbered tattoos on their forearms, a gruesome testament to the horror of treating people as ledger entries.

What does it mean to "count" in Jewish life?

About Our Spring Series: "Community Conversations" About the Mideast

3/19/2025

Israel evokes inspiration, dismay, pride, anger, blessing, suffering, love and hate. The State of Israel and the Mideast, including the ongoing crisis in Palestinian life, deeply touch the heart of everyone in and near Jewish life. Yet rarely do we discuss them openly. Too often such matters are avoided like a Third Rail, or suppressed, or relegated to quiet corners. Let's change that.

Unbend the Knee (P. Ki Tisa)

3/9/2025

I rarely engage with artificial intelligence, but recently I asked ChatGPT to depict the "Golden Calf of modern society." This image was ChatGPT's response.

For Persia in the Purim story we commemorate this week, the Golden Calf was Haman, the xenophobic prime minister. For our spiritual ancestors in Exodus days, it was literally a Golden Calf – a repudiation of the Ten Commandments.

This week's confluence of the two has much to teach us.

Lights On! (P. Tetzaveh)

3/2/2025

As our Northern Hemisphere enters the weeks of fastest increasing daylight and we accelerate into the oncoming spring (not a moment too soon!), this week's Torah portion opens with a command to make eternal light.

The command aims at all of us, and the sudden absence of Moses underscores the message at this important moment.

Rabbi's Corner – March 2025: Spring Forward

3/1/2025

The spring quarter of the Jewish spiritual year is all about who we are as a people, and who we are becoming. Each spring holiday and Shir Ami gathering, one after the next, will uplift these themes.

As we spring forward into this season of identity, we'll better appreciate and enjoy the journey if we know more about where we're going.

Rabbi's Corner – December 2024: The Most Important Light

12/1/2024

December sets Jewish sights toward Hanukkah – a holiday that many of us treat as a minor commemoration suited mainly to children. Even in my early years of rabbinical school, I believed that Hanukkah was no big deal.

How wrong I was – and I want to share my personal story (and Hanukkah's historic story) precisely now, when public visibility and pride in Jewish life both feel especially vital and loaded.

On Love and War – Sermon for Yom Kippur 5785 (2024)

10/12/2024

Opinions and arguments. War. Antisemitism. Elusive hopes for peace. Pride and prejudice. Morality in the crosshairs. What we're about. What we want to be about. What we crave to be about. And back to opinions and arguments, and war, and antisemitism....

Amidst the swirling chaos of the year that's been, and so much hurt still ongoing, what keystones to Jewish spiritual life can secure our foundations? What can help keep our hearts open amidst all?

One Hundred Days of . . . (P. Shlah Lekha)

Who Counts (P. Bamidbar)

About Our Spring Series: "Community Conversations" About the Mideast

Unbend the Knee (P. Ki Tisa)

Lights On! (P. Tetzaveh)

Rabbi's Corner – March 2025: Spring Forward

Rabbi's Corner – December 2024: The Most Important Light

On Love and War – Sermon for Yom Kippur 5785 (2024)

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