I try to read a couple of bestsellers every year, trying to understand America’s mood by reading what everyone else is reading. One of the books I read this year was The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. I want to talk about this novel tonight as a way to get into how we think about our lives, how we think about our Judaism and the way we think about the people in our families. (more…)
Let’s be very basic: What is ritual? Ritual provides a model of reality, showing how to interpret the world as is, as well as a model for reality, clarifying how life ideally should be.
Ritual brings these two aspects – the “model of” and the “model for” – together.
Ritual is about order and sameness. There is comfort and security in knowing that ritual stays the same, no matter what. (more…)
There is a controversy that has been raging in Jewish thought, in our civil affairs, and even in everyone’s personal lives for millennia.
People are simply reluctant to accept new things. So often a new thing has to wait for just the right moment in history until it finally gains acceptance. Still today, some people still refuse on principle to get connected to the Internet and use e-mail. For these folks, the Covid-19 outbreak has been particularly challenging and isolating. (more…)
My grandson Avi has me watching a lot of YouTube segments on science, so let talk a little science.According to nuclear science, there are two ways we can create vast amounts of energy. (more…)
For those who have questions about how we can do this, here is what the Conservative movement has stated:
In this crisis situation in an area in which civil and/or medical authorities decree that it is unsafe for people to gather in person and recommend or order the closure of houses of worship, it is permitted to constitute a minyan whose constitutive participants (ten adult Jewish) are not located in one physical place…. In an emergency situation such as the one we are now experiencing, people participating in a minyan that is only online may recite devarim shebikdushah, prayers that require a minyan, with their community. The participants counted for the minyan must be able to see and hear each other through virtual means and be able to respond “Amen” and other liturgical replies to the prayer leader.
March and April are interesting, even exciting months.
Hope is renewed! We get to measure ourselves against what was and what we hope will be. For some of us,
baseball returns, and if you’re a fan, you are allowed to dream again of what may be possible. It is a long journey. Just as very fan of every team has hope, all of us have hope for the months ahead.
Why Can’t We Get Along?
We recently finished reading the first of the five books of Moses, the book of Genesis. What is the central theme of Genesis?
Some would say creation, but that is only the first two chapters of the book.
Some would say the story of Abraham and his descendants, which is certainly important in Genesis.
But my own sense is there is a major theme running through the entire book, from Cain and Abel to Joseph and his brothers. The theme of Genesis is about sibling rivalry.
Hamilton and The Stories of Our Patriarchs
I ask every Bar or Bat Mitzvah to suggest a topic for my sermon for their ceremony. Recently, Levi Weinstein asked me to talk about his favorite musical, Hamilton, and so my challenge was to weave this groundbreaking show with the stories in Genesis that we were reading during those weeks.