Rabbi Steven Reuben

“It’s not fair!” I heard a child yelling at his playmate on the synagogue playground the other day. “It’s not fair!” And it reminded me how fundamental our innate sense of fairness and ethics truly is.

There are times in my life when being a rabbi and being a musician come together to create an opportunity to experience holiness in unexpected and profound ways. Such an opportunity came to me last Sunday, when I had the remarkable experience of performing in an interfaith concert with five other musicians and singers at …

Read More “Emor 2005 (Leviticus 21:1-24:23)”

What an extraordinary week it was for all of us. Ten different religious institutions joining together to celebrate the values that we cherish and hold in common. A week-long gathering of men, women and children willing to share their most cherished hopes and prayers, wrestle together over what each of us means by respect and …

Read More “Emor (Leviticus 21:1-24:23)”

I had the privilege this evening of speaking at the Hillcrest Country Club to members of the club who had gathered for their annual United Jewish Fund dinner. They gather each year at a formal dinner and make their financial commitments to support the much-needed work of the organized Jewish community of Los Angeles.

Tears and hope, fears and resolve, profound sadness and fierce determination – that is the mood in Israel this week. How ironic that this week’s double Torah portion is called “Akharay mot/Kedoshim”, which translates as “After death-Holiness.”

It was one of those difficult weeks where nearly every day I received a phone call about either a sudden death in the community or someone who had just discovered one form of cancer or another and was struggling with the “Why me?” question and the fear of death staring them in the face. It …

Read More “Metzorah2 (Leviticus 12:1-13:59)”

I have thought often about where Didi and I were exactly a year ago, the last time we read this week’s Torah portion – on Safari in Kenya. How incredibly far from this world of ours with it’s hustle and bustle, cars and pollution and gadgets.

This week is one of the least popular bar or bat mitzvah portions in all the Torah. It is filled with laws for how to recognize and treat leprosy when it is found on one’s body, one’s clothes or in one’s home. Most kids are a bit squeamish about skin diseases so they search for …

Read More “Tazria (Leviticus 12:1-13:59)”

“What is your favorite thing to eat on Passover?” I asked a group of religious school kids last week. “Matzah!” they cried almost in unison. And then the voices of clarification began to appear: “Actually, it’s Matzah with peanut butter and jelly that I take to school for lunch,” one child said. “Matzah brei for …

Read More “Shemini (Leviticus 9:1-11:47)”

We are living in scary times. Bombs are being dropped and guided missiles sent to the heart of Baghdad. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, young men and women from across the United States and Great Britain are stepping into deadly combat even as you read these words. They are bravely staring the uncertainty of death …

Read More “Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36)”