So Chicago is aiming to be one of the first cities to produce a Green Synagogue. I like that. They have the space out there to do it in a way that we don’t here in Brooklyn but it puts on the table this broader issue, yet again, of how religious ideas and […]
One of the great laments of congregational rabbis is the bar/bat mitzvah track.
It goes like this:
“It’s a show; noboby comes but the family and their guests; it’s not really a community celebration.”
Of course this is not to say it’s not a good experience—even a great one for some kids and their families. […]
Long before I ever considered becoming a rabbi, I was convinced I would play NBA basketball.
Rest assured, I was not the first kid to labor under this hilarious illusion.
But there you have it. And so rather than learn the alef-bet or go for bar mitzvah lessons or acquire some keen davenning skills, I prayed […]
One member said, “You could feel the heart of the synagogue tonight. It was palpable, beating, emotional, beautiful.”
Another member said, “He mentioned the entire story of my family’s history–from when my grandparents came to America until today.”
Yet another, “This feels good, historic. Amazing.”
David Ellenson, who is President of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute […]
A member who grew up watching the Vietnam War unravel writes today to suggest we start regularly reading the names of American soldiers killed in action in Iraq as part of our Kaddish list on Fridays and Saturdays at Shul. It seems right to me.
I’m certainly not one to believe that these two wars […]
Susan Sommer, head counsel for Lambda Legal, spoke at our synagogue yesterday about the Gay Marriage movement and conveyed a few simple truths that are worth sharing.
One, the most effective tool in this political initiative in New York right now is dealing with the State Senate and State Assembly. As thing currently stand, the […]
A full house on Shabbat.
A bat mitzvah.
A members’ Hebrew minyan.
A 7th Grade Family Service.
A young adults alternative minyan.
By my count, it was well over 250 people.
One service had piano music and our cantor; another had a guitar with a songleader; the members’ Hebrew minyan and the young adults minyan were without instrumentation and […]
There are some kids for whom Hebrew School just doesn’t work. There are any number of reasons why this is so. And if I can make it work, I’ll find some time to sit with a kid and study one on one, in order that we might redeem a fear, a bad experience, […]
It’s always comforting to get completely insane spiritual advice from Jerusalem.
Growing up in Milwaukee, I always admired that the rabbi and cantor of one of our Reform synagogues had an exchange with an African American church in the city that consisted of the rabbi preaching and the cantor singing in the church on Sunday a year with the pastor and choir of the church doing […]