One of my dispatches from Kutz Camp this summer included some reflections on where young people are at today with their own identity, politics, and religious issues on the national scene.
Among the many impressive students at Kutz was Alex Harper, who was always engaging his rabbis and his peers in conversation about […]
For the Torah Portion Re’eh, Deuteronomy 11.26-16.12, Haftarah, Isaiah 54.11-55.5
Hear the open hand.
It’s a mixed metaphor, I know. So please bear with me.
This portion in the Torah remains one of my favorites. It’s out of place in terms of losing the narrative–there are no real stories told here at this point. […]
Some of the work I do in the Jewish community requires participating in conversations about “professionalizing” Jewish life, which is sometimes a noble effort and sometimes an erroneous attempt to apply a business efficiency model to the delicate art of working in the constructs of meaning and identity. I’ve seen more than my share […]
Last night my mother-in-law made Kasha Varnishkas with our Shabbat dinner. We all kvelled. It tasted so good.
My wife said, “Oh, this smell reminds me of Grandma’s apartment.” We all nodded in agreement.
Then I realized that the smell also reminded me of the Hillel at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where […]
This week’s Forward carries an article about the dynamic between Hillel and Chabad on the college campus. When this issue usually appears in the Jewish press, it does so as either full-blown controversy or feel-good reporting. This week, it’s the latter. And so yet again, we miss a chance to talk about […]
So the cellular companies, the MTA, and the Department of Homeland Security are going to team up and provide cell coverage in the subways. Have you read about that in the papers this week?
If you’ve ever been on the subway (let’s assume you have) and you’ve been following the War on Terror or the […]
Israeli historian Benny Morris weighs in on the Gaza Disengagement in today’s New York Times. His essay is rooted in the reality of history which, as is often the case in religiously enflamed conflicts, is a great contribution.
His essential argument about Gaza is that it is not nor has it ever been an integral […]
I want to turn to a couple of interesting and instructive moral texts from the tradition to make the case that President Bush should walk through the front gate of his ranch and speak to a grieving mother, Cindy Sheehan.
Regardless of what Mrs. Sheehan said about Israel (she is reported to have said […]
Today I began my work with a bi-weekly Torah study with someone converting to Judaism. Her background is Armenian and Anglican English and her pursuit of Torah and the Jewish covenantal idea is truly awe inspiring.
I then went to meet a young couple preparing their own wedding, using the structures of the Jewish wedding […]
Yesterday’s news was, despite the relatively orderly manner of at least half the Gaza settlers in recognizing that the oppostion had been defeated, disturbing. Acid was thrown in the face of one soldier; burning gas at another; and this morning’s news reports that a female officer was stabbed by a woman wielding an IV […]