Hanukkah is Not a Minor Holiday! Hanukkah is not a minor holiday. I hereby raise it to the same status as Yom Kippur and Pesah! And, if you ask me, the food is better. When we light the lights, we… Read More »
Our Torah readers lineup this week includes youth who are taking on the serious responsibility of continuing our tradition. Come support them and those fellow congregants committed to chanting Torah and haftarah. Come also because the story of Joseph starts… Read More »
It is our story, that of America and that of the Jewish People. Isaac takes up the challenge of his father and mother to continue the story of the Jewish People. He is known as the “father” who did not… Read More »
Sarah was one hundred plus twenty plus seven when she died. She stopped at each of those ages and said “I no longer want to be like this any more.” So powerful was her ability to improve her life’s direction… Read More »
The Lord visited our ancestors Avraham and Sarah and informed them they will have a child in their old age. Surprised, delighted, incredulous God says, “Is there anything too wondrous for God?” One way of reading that phrase in the… Read More »
“It’s on you.” My son, Yonah, and I were talking about what to do with some of his earnings. “Give tzedakah,” I told him, “five times chai, 5X18.” I said. “That sounds like a commandment, Abba.” He likes to remind… Read More »
Noah was called a tzaddik – a righteous soul in his generation. The classic question commentators ask is “was he righteous just compared to the people of his generation who were considered corrupt, extremists and violent? Or, was he as… Read More »
Remember with love – and celebrate! My Yizkor sermon on Shmini Atzeret (Thursday morning) will build on what Elie Wiesel told world Jewry about Simhat Torah during the war. When asked about celebrating this unique holiday right after the Holocaust… Read More »
Dear Or Zarua, Moses called to all the elders and leaders of the tribes, as well as those appointed with the tasks of being teachers and the community patrol. The Torah then adds these words intentionally, “…the women, the children,… Read More »
God brought our ancestors to a “Land of Milk and Honey.” There are different interpretations of that descriptive phrase. Got milk? We might imagine the Children of Israel with herds of goats – the source of dairy for wanderers in… Read More »