The Festival of Shavuot, beginning the evening of June 7, marks the Revelation of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, the story told beginning in Chapter 20 of the Book of Shemot/Exodus. (more…)

The Reform Movement—A Treasured Resource and Source of Pride

Our Union for Reform Judaism, the URJ, has been in the news lately, and it is a good thing.

The URJ, until 2003 known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC), was formed in 1873 by 34 congregations with the primary goal of beginning a rabbinical seminary to train American rabbis.  The result was the Hebrew Union College (HUC).  (more…)

When people come to you for help, do not turn them off with pious words, saying:  “Have faith and take your troubles to God!”  Act instead as if there were no God, as though there were only one person in all the world who could help—only yourself.  –Philosopher Martin Buber, cited in our prayer book Mishkan Tefilah. (more…)

I write this column on February 11, in the midst of one of those potential “Berlin Wall Moments” that change the course of history—as well as the standards and expectations of human rights and dignity.  What Egypt and the entire Middle East will look like by the time you read this is still unsure.  (more…)

Young Erik Weisz was born in Budapest in 1974 to Rabbi Mayer and Cecilia Weisz, the fourth of seven children.  At age four, he immigrated to the United States, where his father became Rabbi of a congregation in Appleton, Wisconsin. (more…)

We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.
–Sir Winston Churchill

Contemporary Rabbi Ron Wolfson teaches:  In the Land of Israel, there are two large bodies of water.  In the north, there is a large lake called the Sea of Galilee.  It is teeming with fish, and people enjoy its breezes.  The Jordan River feeds it in the northern end and ten continues its journey to the south.  There is another body of water in the southern desert.  It has no life in it, it smells like sulfur, and no one lives around it.  The Jordan River flows into it, but it does not flow out. (more…)

The town of Chelm was known as the town of fools.  One day, someone asked one of the elders which was more important, the sun or the moon.

The elders pondered the question for a long time and then replied, “The moon.  The moon is more important.  After all,” they said, “the moon shines at night when we really need the light, while the sun shines during the day when there is already plenty of light.”

The days are getting shorter, and it is dark before 5 pm.  It will be nearly another month before our days—slowly—begin to lengthen again.  It is the darkest time of the year. (more…)

Many of us are familiar with variations of the High Holy Day story:   A child starts a rumor about his or her classmate and wants to learn from the rabbi how to apologize.  The rabbi tells the child to take a pillow, go to the top of the hill, tear it open, and let the feathers out.  Once the child has completed the task, he or she returns to the rabbi, who offers the greater challenge:  Go collect the feathers and refill the pillow case once again.  When the child expresses that such a task simply cannot be done, the wise rabbi explains, “So it is with our words.”  Once we spread them, there is no taking them back. (more…)

I write this on the heels of a wonderful High Holy Day season.  The view from the pulpit was inspiring—so many familiar faces, sitting alongside newer ones.  The greatest compliment was that visitors on Rosh Hashanah not only chose to worship again with us on Yom Kippur, but also let our ushers, leadership, and rabbi know how happy they were to do so.  One of the strengths of our community is that we reach out to and greet those who are on the periphery or not yet a member of our community; that this is a genuine and heartfelt welcome is evident to those on the receiving end. (more…)

THE STATE OF ISRAEL … will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture… (The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948)

Like no other time in the recent past, the Jewish community of North America, as well as other Jewish Diaspora communities, has come together to address controversial stands and proposals within the State of Israel.  Even agencies which usually shy away from such debates and protests have stepped up at this time, and well they should. (more…)

What a word—simchah! As Purim approaches, and each time we come to one reason or another to celebrate, we bandy that word around—simchah. It‘s a simchah! You‘re a simchah! What a simchah!

There are two types of simchah—the acute and the enduring. When we gather together for Purim at the end of this month, when we mark the end of a school semester or work project, when we rejoice with bride and groom, we are in the acute stages of simchah. At times, we feel nothing less than elated. We throw all caution to the wind. We are in that very moment, and that moment alone. (more…)