In April 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, I attended a forum featuring four Nobel Peace laureates. One of the speakers was Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and tireless advocate for human dignity. Drawing upon his experience…
Tag: Torah
Noach – The Trouble with Being Human; Dominion, Compassion, and the Discipline of Restraint
What does it mean to be human? The Torah gives us a remarkable answer: we are created in the image of God and entrusted with dominion over the earth. But what does that dominion mean? Does it give us license…
B’reishit – Finding Ourselves, East of Eden
As we begin to explore this story of humankind outside the Garden of Eden, we, like Kayin, should be uncomfortable that our first encounter is with fratricide. Yet, if we are honest, we need to admit that we walk…
Shemini Atzeret to Simchat Torah – The Party Is Just Beginning:
When I was growing up in New York, Thanksgiving and Chanukah were occasions for bringing the family together. We lived in a small, five-and-a-half-room apartment, but somehow, we managed to squeeze in relatives and friends, folding tables, and enough food…
Yom Kippur Is Not Judgment Day
There is something about Yom Kippur that can make us uncomfortable. We come into this day knowing that we are going to have to face ourselves. We will confess our sins and recite the Al Chet, acknowledging the many ways…
Rosh Hashanah – Back to the Future
JMortonPhoto.com & OtoGodfrey.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Back to the Future Rosh Hashanah gives us something that is increasingly difficult to find in modern life: a sacred pause. We spend much of the year moving forward at a…
Vayeilech – If Life Is a Journey
This Shabbat, we read from Parashat Vayeilech, which brings us to the conclusion of Moses’ life. After forty years of leading the people of Israel through the wilderness, Moses knows that his own journey is coming to an end. He…
Ki Tavo – Do Not Neglect Nor Transgress
Listen to an audio version …lo avarti mi’mitzvoteycha v’lo sha’chachti “I have neither transgressed nor neglected any of your commandments” (Devarim 26:13). This is the pledge that God commanded the children of Israel to declare every third year after removing…
Shoftim – The Gift of Da’at
The Search for Spiritual Insight Human beings have always searched for spiritual insight. We long to understand what lies ahead, to make sense of life’s uncertainties, and to find wisdom beyond ourselves. That longing is not sinful. I believe it…
Re’eh – There Shall Be No Destitute Among You
A Kingdom Unlike Any Other The Torah places before us what appears to be a contradiction. In Deuteronomy 15:4 Moses declares with breathtaking confidence, “There shall be no destitute among you.” Yet only a few verses later he says, “The…