Theology, Technology and a bit of Music
Earlier this summer, an email exchange between a High School principal and a parent became national news. William Latson, the principal of Spanish River High School in Boca Raton, Florida, was communicating with a…
Hey Rabbi, who is drinking that wine? Congregation Rodeph Shalom is located on the Upper West Side in New York City. Every year during Passover, the synagogue partners with Harlem’s Memorial Baptist Church for what they…
These weeks leading up to the High Holidays motivate us to start doing the important, holy work of t'suvah. The word, t'suvah itself means 'return,' or 'turn.' But as I’ve said before, this return is not a return to the…
This weekend, Bend the Arc, The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), our own Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center (RAC) and others are joining together with Jewish communities across the country to demand an…
In this portion, the last in Leviticus, God promises heaps of reward and blessing for following the statues. God prefaces all of the blessings with this verse: If you walk in my statues, and keep my commandments, and do…
I’ve been thinking about memory a lot lately. Two pop culture juggernauts have recently used the concept of memory in thoughtful ways that are appropriate on this Shabbat. Before I get started, I promise that I’m not…
This year's commemoration of Yom Hashoah feels different. We are still reeling from the murder of Lori Gilbert Kaye. Just as Pesach ended, celebrating the themes of freedom and redemption, a white supremecist went into…
There's no way around it, sometimes our Torah is troubling. When dealing with problematic passages from the Torah, we sometimes engage in a kind of intellectual and theological sanitization of the text so that the verses…
In 2006 I started my rabbinate in Omaha, Nebraska. Shortly after, I met Debra McKnight. Debra served as the Associate Reverend at the First United Methodist Church located just across the street. She has the distinction…
If there is such a thing as an ideal death, it is described here in Parashat Vay'chi. Jacob is on his deathbed. Joseph is with him in addition to his eleven other sons. Jacob is able to give each one of them a prediction…