My Trip to Israel: Seeing a Man Who’s Bought Fruits and Vegetables
“What did you do?” “Where did you go?” “What did you see?” These are the natural and anticipated questions. Over this past winter break, I had the joy and privilege of being in Israel with my kids, Matan and Yael, for two-and-a-half...Continue reading
Bart Starr, the police, and genuine kindness
Bart Starr is quoted as teaching, “You can tell the true measure of a man by how he treats someone who can do nothing for him.” Just a couple of days ago, I had parked illegally outside a friend’s house in Whitefish...Continue reading
Kindness can Overwhelm Hate
Acts of kindness like this one by Jamario Howard don’t put an end to hate and horror (furthered by the attack at a synagogue in Poway, California), but they’re a start — and something that each of us can do. Now, it’s...Continue reading
Remembering and Forgetting
(In the wake of the shooting in New Zealand, I share an amended version of my words to my synagogue, Congregation Cnesses Israel, in Green Bay this past Shabbat.) In the Jewish calendar, this past Shabbat (Sabbath) is called Shabbat Zahor —...Continue reading
No longer my spiritual home
I remember my first trip to Israel, the summer before I turned ten years old. As I was heading via sheirut (a shared cab in Israel) to the airport to return home to Milwaukee, I remember crying, hoping, begging, and praying to see the...Continue reading
Anniversary of the Six Day War
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War, I wrote the following article, published in this month’s edition of the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.
In 1939, the U.S. turned away the MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 900 Jewish refugees. They were returned to Europe, where historians estimate that one quarter of them died. How tragic that, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the U.S. once again...Continue reading
Growing, Cutting, and Donating my Hair: A Reflection
Pride, Pressure and Principle: A Reflection on My Eighteen Months of Growing, Then Cutting, Then Donating My Hair My unintended personal journey began almost four years ago, when I was then the Associate Rabbi of Westchester Jewish Center in Mamaroneck,...Continue reading
The Particularistic and the Universalistic: Religion in 21st Century North America
(sermon delivered on June 9th, 2012) Shabbat shalom. I would like to talk about two things this morning that have been on my mind. The first is particularistic and the second universalistic. First, the particularistic: Judaism. In talking...Continue reading
