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Hug a Muslim
The first time I attempted to write this blog post, I included the suggestion that we hug a Muslim. It was not an original idea. Social media was peppered with the suggestion that we Jews should hug our Muslim neighbors to assure them of our concern in the wake of anti-Islamic sentiment expressed by our…
November 13, 2016
What’s in a Name?
Odds are good that you know your names. You received one or more names at birth, and maybe you changed name at marriage, divorce or another formative moment. Maybe you also have one or more nicknames, private terms of endearment with a partner or friend, childhood monikers, familial titles ("Mom," "Uncle," "Grandma"), and professional titles…
November 5, 2016
Our ancestors were refugees
My ancestors were wandering refugees. Yours too. We should remember that now. Lives depend upon it. The Torah reading this week, Noah, ends with the start of Abraham’s journey. It reads: “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set…
October 30, 2016
Creating Creation (Bereshit)
More than two trillion galaxies exist according to a recent report from the Hubble Space Telescope. My brain long ago reached its limit of understanding, just trying to fathom just the mere existence of our galaxy, the Milky Way. How did it all begin? Does it have an end? While such questions of cosmology are beyond my…
October 25, 2016
Balancing the Scales
Amidst hopes for a good and sweet new year, this week's Torah portion (Ha'azinu) between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur brings the swan song of Moses as he prepares to die. It's no coincidence that these two poignant moments come together now. In a sense, Moses' preparation to die evokes our own. Each year, tradition…
October 9, 2016
Heaven is a place on earth
Two important new buildings opened in DC this September, the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Trump International Hotel. In its own way, each building provokes us to consider the goals of our actions. One stands as a reminder to transcend prejudice, showing us how far we can fall from a Heavenly standard.…
September 26, 2016
The Gratitude Virus
As we approach Rosh Hashanah, here's a reminder that our spiritual ancestors knew what neurobiologists only recently figured out. Emotion is catchy – and a good thing, too. In the 1980s, scientists discovered that the brain is wired with mirror neurons that fire when we perceive others' emotions. These neurons mirror in us what we sense others experiencing,…
September 18, 2016
Best Behavior
As I read this week’s portion, Ki Teitze, I kept thinking over and over again, “it’s not about you.” This portion has the most mitzvoth in any single portion and most of them have to do with how we interact with others within our families or communities. These are laws, that if followed, can elevate…
September 12, 2016
Election Year Judaism
What does Judaism have to say about our current election cycle in the United States? So much! And I am excited by the fact that ideas recorded 3,000 years ago are relevant today. Here’s some historical context before we shift to the text. Imagine that you’ve been camping in the rocky desert for 40 years…
September 1, 2016
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