Listen to an audio version So often it would seem that the focus within American Judaism is on impressive edifices, building funds, synagogue attendance and business protocols – and why not? These values merely mirror those of our everyday lives.…
Tag: Jewish Spirituality
The Price of Hesed
Every year the gift-giving season comes earlier and earlier, to the point that some desperate merchandisers try to lure us into their stores with X-mas in August promotional ads. This year in reaction to the societal retreat due to Covid…
Emor – Kiddush Hashem
Listen to an audio version It is no wonder that Americans grow ever more cynical regarding organized religion. I think few people are totally surprised by the recently exposed sexual abuses that have been going on within Catholic parishes, since…
Accepting Our Heritage
It has been said that the life of Moses can be seen as three distinct movements, forty years each. First Moses spends the first forty years thinking he is somebody. He has fallen by providence into the royal court of…
Tish B’Av – A View From the Rubble
People don’t get along all of the time. We are often tired or stressed out and it can be hard to keep our cool when someone cuts us off on the highway during the commute, let their kids run amuck…
Purim, the Church and Jewish Marginality
This is a “leap year” for Israel’s lunar calendar. The Jewish “leap year”, which occurs seven times in a 19-year cycle, has 13 months instead of the regular year’s 12. This is so that the lunar-based Jewish year should remain…