Rabbi’s Corner

I like to ask stupid questions.

I like to go back to a blank blackboard and start from the very basic ideas. During this terrible ordeal when Jewish people all over the world are worried about everything happening to and in the State of Israel, some claim that Israel is a colonial power that is usurping the right of Palestinians to their land. I know that most Israelis are the children and grandchildren of refugees who were exiled from their homes in Europe and the Middle East; Israel is anything but a colonial power. I know that the land does not belong to a group that did not even exist decades ago. I know that this these claims against Israel are all false. And yet I also know that Israel has unfortunately has often needed to re-establish or re-enforce its claim to its land through war, from its War of Independence in 1948 to the current conflict. (more…)

TURNING CURSES TO BLESSINGS: ON THE POWER OF WORDS

In the Hebrew Bible, words are events. G-d creates the world through a series of speech-acts, starring with “Let there be light.” As events, once words are spoken, they cannot be taken back; they have happened. Words have independent power. There are many blessings and curses, invoking the name of G-d, and they affect the real world and change history. Once spoken, they are part of reality. (more…)

By the time you read this message, I hope it is out-of-date.
· I hope that the hostages who have been kidnapped by the murderous savages of Hamas have been rescued and are home with their families.
· I hope that Hamas has been destroyed. (more…)

In the very first chapter of the Bible, there is a verse that may be the most important verse in the whole Bible, or anywhere. It says that every single human being is created in the image of G-d.

This sounds so simple, right?

And yet, if everyone believed this and looked at all other human beings as equals, this world would be a very different place. (more…)

After the High Holidays, the festival of Sukkot can seem like an anticlimax. But it is a beautiful, joyous holiday. In fact, is the only festival in which we are COMMANDED to be happy: “For a seven-day period you shall celebrate… and you shall be happy!” (more…)

Sometimes I don’t know what to worry about first. The list goes through my head in no particular order. (more…)

In many cultures and societies around the world and far back into antiquity, the word used to describe this most treasured season is derived entirely from a description of its weather. Is that all the summer is about? Heat? One could certainly argue that heat is the dominant feature of the summer. I’d like to believe that summer is about so much more than just the heat. (more…)

The Festival of Shavuot certainly does not have the
powerful observances of other festivals, dwelling in
booths on Sukkot or eating matzah on Passover.
Nonetheless, it has developed its own observances. We
eat dairy foods. A lot of us eat blintzes, (about
1000 calories a bite, so it is best you eat it
only once a year.) On Shavuot we read
the book of Ruth, the beautiful story of
a Moabite woman who cast her lot
with the Jewish people. “Your people
will be my people; your G-d will be my
G-d.” (more…)

When Melvin passed away, G-d greeted him and asked. “Are you hungry, Melvin?”

“I could eat,” Melvin replied.

So G-d opened a can of tuna and reached for a chunk of rye bread and they shared it. (more…)