May 25, 2023 This year, the reading of the Torah portion of Naso, in which we find the words of what is known as the Priestly Blessing (Birkat Kohanim) or the Threefold Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26), coincides with Memorial Day Weekend. The blessing reads: Y’var-ekh’cha A-do-nai v’yish’m’recha: Ya-eir A-do-nai pa-nav ei-ley-cha vi-chu-nei-cha: Yi-sa A-do-nai pa-nav ei-le-cha v’ya-sem …
May 19, 2023 Shavuot, which means “weeks,” is the name of the festival which originated as an agricultural festival celebrating the beginning of the grain harvest, and became a celebration of Matan Torah -the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The biblical descriptions of the revelation of Torah to the Israelites are rich and dramatic, and …
May 12, 2023 You might have seen a headline in the news recently: Hebrew School Enrollment in U.S. Drops Sharply. It’s true. In the recent census completed by the Jewish Education Project, the research indicates that there are 45% less children enrolled in supplemental Jewish education settings since the last data point in 2008. Those are …
May 5, 2023 A few years back, I stumbled upon a little video entitled, “Against Empathy”. In it, Yale University professor and psychologist, Paul Bloom, talks about the premise of his 2016 book by the same name, which is as follows: we are taught to think that putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and feeling …
April 28, 2023 Since 1949, May has been observed as Mental Health Awareness month in the United States. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is at the forefront of raising awareness about mental health, fighting stigma and providing education and support to help alleviate the suffering of the millions of people impacted by mental …
April 21, 2023 Next week, beginning Tuesday evening, Jews in Israel and the Diaspora will mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, a date known as Yom Ha’Atzma’ut (Independence Day). Each year, this day of celebration is immediately preceded by Israel’s Memorial Day for its fallen soldiers and victims of …
April 14, 2023 This coming week, communities in Israel and around the world will observe Yom HaShoah u’Gevurah, Israel’s official day to mourn the shoah, the calamity that was the genocide of millions of Jews and others across Europe during World War II, and to honor the gevurah, the strength and determination of survivors. Yom …
April 7, 2023 When we gather around our seder tables and tell the story of the Israelites’ enslavement and subsequent journey to freedom, we engage in – what I like to call – an embodied practice of empathy building. We are instructed to put ourselves in the shoes of our ancestors, and of those who …
March 31, 2023 This Shabbat, on the cusp of Passover, is known as Shabbat haGadol – “The Great Shabbat.” There are several traditional explanations for this designation, which you can read about here, but I want to share some reflections about what makes this Shabbat so significant in this very moment. We need the sacred …
