Omer 5783
My recent posts...
Maybe The Smaller Things…
My recent posts...Maybe the Smaller Things... On November 1, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution designating January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The UN urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of...
Making Noise
If loud noises keep away evil spirits, demons, and the like, why do we not make incessant clamor all the time?
‘Tis The Season
Family gatherings of all sorts. Kids on vacation. Slow time at work. Colleagues, friends, traveling. For some, this time of year is fraught with challenge.
They Deserve Better
Veterans in times of conflict or in relative peacetime, whether in combat or in support — all of them deserve better. Veterans put their lives on hold and on the line to preserve what makes our country worth protecting.
Shaking It
Along with telling us to dwell in a sukkah for a week, Torah instructs us to celebrate Sukkot by holding together the “fruit of a glorious tree,” a palm frond, a bough of a “leafy tree,” and willow twigs. As with the lack of detail about the sukkah, there is no mention of shaking, waving, parading — all things we do with those planty things.
From wherever You dwell…
You may be aware that I compose melodies for liturgy, including a couple (Ashrei and Harofei/The Healer) that are commonly used in our services. I’ve also been writing a number of original songs, some inspired by the political upheaval that coincided with the COVID lockdown and others by … life.
The Struggle
My recent posts...I was honored to offer remarks at the Atlantic City Civil Rights Garden this morning. The Struggle Friends, The last time we were here, it was much much colder. And I’m sure you remember that I cited this ancient rabbinic saying: לֹא עָלֶיךָ...
Responding to Jeff Van Drew
My response to Representative Jeff Van Drew’s attack on the Ken Burns Holocaust documentary
Where are they now
On November 21, 2022, his 80th birthday, President Joe Biden pardoned two turkeys, Chocolate and Chip, otherwise destined for someone’s Thanksgiving table. Fox News posted that “the National Turkey Federation has donated turkeys to the president ahead of Thanksgiving since 1947 under President Harry Truman. President John F. Kennedy is believed to be the first president to spare the turkey, and President George H. W. Bush was the first to formalize the ‘pardon’ tradition.”
Yizkor: Seeing Stars
In this week’s JTS Torah On Line, Grace Gleason, a Jewish Theological Seminary rabbinical student, writes that the fragility of the sukkah can teach us “to embrace impermanence. Our tradition tells us: there is no use in denial, and there is no use in comforting distraction.”
YK yizkor 5783
My recent posts...Blessings, brachot. We have LOTS of blessings in our Jewish lives! There’s a bracha for nearly everything. ritual: leisheiv basukka, for sitting in the sukkah eating: shehakol nihye bidvaro, for foods that don’t fit the categories of vegetable, fruit,...