We recently “kashered” our kitchen, which means that we now have a kosher home.
This post is not so much to describe that experience or its reasoning but to relate the following.
When pouring some Kedem Grape Juice, I noticed that the price from Glatt Mart was nearly five dollars.
What is with that?

One of the more offensive and ridiculous spasms of contemporary Jewish thinking was when, after Hurricane Katrina, a leading rabbi in Israel said that God sent the Hurricane to punish America for urging Israel to withdraw from Gaza.
So in my capacity as a completely insignificant American Jewish sage, I want to say that just because […]

A few friends sent around this piece of research that hit media outlets this week:
WASHINGTON (Oct. 25) - Attending religious services may enrich the soul, but it also fattens the wallet, according to research released on Tuesday.
“Doubling the frequency of attendance leads to a 9.1 percent increase in household income, or a rise of 5.5 […]

If I had a corner office in the White House, I’d gather the team and teach the following two texts at an Oval Office Torah Study Lunch ‘n Learn.
1. Rabban Gamaliel said, ‘Be cautious with the authorities, for they do not befriend a man except for their own advantage; they appear as friends when it is […]

I’m not sure anyone really noticed, but tucked into a small blurb in the middle of the paper last week was the seemingly insignificant news that yet again, the Fair Wage Act of 2005 failed to pass.
For those of you who don’t know, this equity law has the audacity to raise the minimum […]

Sukkot draws to a close and our lives begin to embrace in real intimate detail, a change in seasons.
It’s impossible to imagine otherwise.
Increasing numbers of leaves, dampened by the increased rain fall, pad our steps.
Wind blows with greater confidence in its ability to mock us into seeking shelter–like Moses in the cleft of the rock […]

Two years ago I was leading Yom Kippur services at Hebrew Union College. Toward the end of the day, as Neilah began, a robed man appeared in the back of the room and I could see that he was trying to convince the usher to let him approach the bima.
I was concerned.
Who was this […]

Today was what I refer to as a “funnel day.”
It began with responsibility and ended with Torah.
1. Arise, pray, feed and dress kids, get them to school.
2. Meet at Federation and listen to a paper from Ari Kelman and Steven Cohen about how young Jews interact with and create Jewish culture.
3. Deconstruct […]

In an old episode on Gary Shandling’s HBO show “Larry Sanders,” his sidekick Hank Kingsley (played by the brilliant Jeffrey Tambor) has an awakening and wants to become more Jewish. As one watches this famous episode and its study of Hollywood’s shallow relationship to Judaism, one discovers that the real motivation for Hank’s religious […]

So Harriet Miers continues to appear before a Senatorial Beit Din, which is my special name for the Jewish members of the Senate Judiciary Committee–Feingold and Kohl of Wisconsin; Feinstein of California; Schumer of New York; and chaired by Specter of Pennsylvania–and it is fascinating to watch this process as a rabbi and wonder, given […]