Clergy Posts
Picture a tombstone. In large letters is the name “John D. Doe.” The inscription reads: “The follwing people still owe me an apology.” Then there are four columns of names.
That was a man who knew how to hold a grudge. We laugh because this cartoon mocks something we’ve all had to deal with from both [...]
The Empire’s legions methodically secured the country against the rebellion—grim, implacable, confident. Inside the walls of the capital, five separate factions battled. Rebel elements overthrew the traditional leadership of the city, pillaging and killing. Then they turned against each other, Balkanizing the city. As the conqueror’s noose tightened around the city walls, those who tried [...]
Let me show you something. (Hold up round challah.) We all know that we bake round challahs for the High Holy Days, but why? It symbolizes the circle of the year. We have come around again to the first of Tishrei. But think about it: is that what we want—to have come full circle unchanged? [...]
As I was arriving earlier this evening, I met a woman who had some differences of opinion with me long ago and never seems to have gotten over it. In an effort to make peace I greeted her cheerfully and said, “I wish for you in the New Year what you wish for me.” [...]
Our minds are always busy, and sometimes a song will just show up. Through recent times of conflict, natural disaster, economic turmoil, human suffering and personal loss, one song kept rising from memory into consciousness. If you know it, sing along:
Kol ha-olam kulo gesher tzar m’od v’ha-ikkar lo l’faheid k’lal.
“The whole world is a [...]
There are days when I look at the world and I suddenly become very tired. Day in and day out, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week we are barraged with news of genocide, hunger, homelessness, violence, the spread of preventable diseases, and the extreme poverty that grips so much of our world. [...]
There is an old Yiddish Expression- Mann traoch, Gott Lauch- “Man plans, and God laughs.” In her book, titled after this expression, Rabbi Sherre Hirsch elaborates:
I remember my first plan. It was the Cinderella plan. I was going to become a beautiful princess. Then one day my fair and handsome prince would save me from [...]
In his book, To Heal a Fractured World, Sir. Rabbi Jonathan Sachs, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth tells a story of the Second Lubavitcher Rebbe, the “Mitteler Rebbe,” who was so intent on his studies that he failed to hear the cry of his baby son. His father, Rabbi Shneur [...]