Omer Day Forty-One
A wonderful celebration last night for Shabbat, giving honor to our Long-Term Members who have been part of the CBE Community for more than 25 years. A terrific slide show of pictures from over the decades, old stories exchanged, a Shabbat meal, and then the service, from dusted off copies of the […]
Omer Day Forty
Harvey Korman died at the age of 81, a comic genius best known for his work with Mel Brooks and Carol Burnett.
As I had mentioned in yesterday’s post about anticipating a trip to FDR’s home in Hyde Park, my own Jewish upbringing was rooted in stories of the Second World War on one […]
Omer Day Thirty-Nine
One of the ironies of life: had my father never died young (at 58 of a heart attack) I may never have begun a search that wound me up as a rabbi.
My Jewish narrative was constructed by him on the floor of his apartment, with black and white photos of World War […]
Omer Day Thirty-Eight
I have an age problem. No matter what I do, certain members complain that I only favor younger people.
This is not true, but it’s hard to get this monkey off my back since I used to be considered one of the rising young rabbinic leaders of our era. That’s a dubious […]
Omer Day Thirty-Seven
One of the ideas that’s circulating that someone (PLEASE!) needs to do something about is a “study on the studies.” We Jews have been studying ourselves silly, one of the greatest of solipsistic exercises. Mostly we study young people, as if this will reveal the (pardon the mixed metaphor here) Holy […]
Omer Day Thirty-Six
Kudos to all 36 on the 36 under 36 list by the Jewish Week. It’s an important and impressive bunch.
But where’s Aaron Bisman?
JDUB founder and Altshul founder, who has a foot in the camps of cultural and spiritual revival deserves a spot.
Omer Day Thirty-Five
My more quiet moments of reflection in Prospect Park come as early as possible in the morning or in the middle of the day, when Nathan and I head for the grass and get a breather from the rough and tumble of the pavement. Today the Linden trees were beginning to give […]
Omer Day Thirty-Four
Today in the Pirke Avot class, we walked through what I spontaneously decided to refer to as the “historiography of Pirke Avot,” a brief lesson in how one can look at the first chapter of Pirke Avot as a description of how rabbinic Judaism was born.
From God to Moses to Joshua to the […]
Omer Day Thirty-Three
Lag B’Omer
Get a haircut.
Omer Day Thirty-Two
See Jodi Kantor’s piece in the Times, just posted on Wednesday night, about Senator Barack Obama and his challenges with a certain demographic of Jewish voters in places like Florida.
Jodi, an outstanding journalist, has really summarized beautifully the Florida Jewish vote and here runs it through the framework of perceptions and generational divides.
Despite […]