Writing this piece is particularly timely for me. Last Friday, my congregation shared in a day of worship and solidarity with members of the local Muslim community. We prayed with them in their [...]
“Three pilgrimage festivals you shall celebrate before Me each year.” Exodus: 23:14 At some point in every Hebrew school curriculum a child learns the topic of the Shalosh Regalim, the [...]
“Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God: you shall not do any work— you, your son or [...]
Dear Parents and Guardians of Children with Special Needs, Thank you. Thank you for sitting down with me and our religious school teachers to walk us through your child’s IEP or 504 Plan. Thank [...]
Bo is an unusual Torah portion, in that it opens in the middle of a story – the story that immediately precedes the greatest event in our people’s history. The final three plagues – swarms of [...]
I recall some years ago traveling on a crowded New York city bus. Seated in front of me during the entire trip was a gentleman with his eyes closed. Coincidentally, we both exited the bus at the [...]
Shemot 2:16-17: Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock; but shepherds came and drove them off. Moses rose to [...]
In Parshat Vayechi – we find the following encounter. Yaakov (Jacob) is on his deathbed and his children and grandchildren come near to receive his last blessing. Yosef (Joseph) – his [...]
In Miketz, the penultimate Torah portion of the Joseph narrative, Joseph experiences a dramatic reversal of fortune. When we last saw Joseph, he had gone from his father’s favorite child, to a [...]
There was something about Joseph. He didn’t seem able to keep up with his brothers. He couldn’t control himself. He often blurted out statements that were alternatively unfunny, [...]