I remember the day of my rabbinic ordination, some 26 years ago, as if it were yesterday. I had spent five years studying at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, first in Jerusalem, then in Los Angeles and finally in New York. There I was after all those years of study standing …
A young woman called asking if I would be willing to visit with her 95-year-old grandmother. She seemed to be slipping away from life more and more each day, and had been asking to speak with a rabbi. I didn’t know the woman or her family, but I figured anyone who lives to be 95 …
I have had the pleasure and privilege (as you know by now) of serving as the president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California for the past two years representing over 260 Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis in our community. This afternoon I earned the new title of “immediate past president” as Rabbi …
Waiting for freedom to come takes many forms. Although it is understandable that when I write about freedom most people may immediately think of traumatic political situations around the globe – the tragedy of Darfur or the long-running struggle for independence from the Chinese that the Dalai Lama and his Tibetan followers have experienced for …
I have had the pleasure and privilege (as you know by now) of serving as the president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California for the past two years representing over 260 Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis in our community. This afternoon I earned the new title of “immediate past president” as Rabbi …
Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan once taught that religious identity is based on the “three Bs” of believing, belonging, and behaving. Most religious traditions begin with a foundation of believing. Christianity, for example, is based in large measure on a belief in Jesus as the son of God, and the savior of human souls, on beliefs having …
Last week at Kehillat Israel, I witnessed over six hundred men, women and children spending the day giving of themselves to others as part of our “Mega Mitzvah Day.” It was in many ways for me the quintessential KI experience and a perfect way to celebrate the synagogue’s 50th Anniversary. I am always proud of …
The first thing everyone notices is the light. You can’t walk into the sanctuary at Kehillat Israel, without being confronted immediately by a large, oversized glass sculpture in the shape of a large flame that is prominently mounted almost directly in front of you on the wall.
The most ancient sacred Jewish writings are most likely contained in the story of creation. There in the opening passages of Genesis, we find among the most powerful and poetic of all Jewish writings, the description of how God created the universe and all that is in it.
Sometimes I think that our Biblical ancestors were a lot wiser than we give them credit for. Every year when we get to this particular biblical book filled with graphic descriptions of animal sacrifices and offerings outlining in detail such rituals as the sprinkling of blood on the altar by the priests, along with a …
Imagine how scary it must have been for our ancestors in Egypt that night. Imagine what they must have been thinking as they watched one plague after another strike the land – from blood flowing in the rivers to frogs and lice overrunning the countryside, to animals dying all around them, from a sudden outbreak …
Last week in the Torah we experienced what appeared to be the single most powerful moment of revelation in all of Jewish history – the giving of the Torah itself on Mt. Sinai. For the past 3,000 years we have turned to that moment and those remarkable “Ten Utterances” (aseret Hadibrot in Hebrew) for the …
I have been thinking a lot about elephants this week. I was recalling how two years ago while on my sabbatical Didi and I spent a couple of days on safari in Kenya. I remember how incredible it was the day we found ourselves sitting in this little jeep in the middle of Amboseli surrounded …
In a famous Hasidic saying, the Kotzker Rebbe was once asked: “Where does God dwell?” to which he replied, “Wherever you let Him in.”