There are two muffins baking in an oven, a blueberry and a bran. The bran muffin turns to the blueberry and says, “Is it just me, or is it hot in here?” and the blueberry muffin says, “Holy cow! A talking muffin!!!” In this week’s parasha,...

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel devoted much of his writing and teaching to calling people to “Radical Amazement,” or heightened awareness of mystery and awe. "We don't live in an awareness that all that is is an incomprehensible mystery and miracle,”...

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. For many years,  I’ve stood with members of my congregation in our cemetery — not to bury a person, but to bury books. There...

When my grandfather, Rabbi Benson Skoff, was in the third grade, he ran for class president. He told me that he ran against a girl in his class and that he thought the gentlemanly thing to do would be to vote for her. And he expected her to do the same. She...

Last month I was lamenting the end of an era as one of the TV shows I enjoyed, “Around the Horn” came to an end after over 22 years on ESPN.  What I particularly loved about “Around the Horn” was that sportswriters from all over the country...

As the Children of Israel leave Mount Sinai, in preparation for their journey to the Land of Canaan, the Torah tells us that: “And they departed from the mountain of the Lord three days’ journey.” (10:33) Commentators explain that this means that...

My friend has a little wooden sign in her kitchen that says, “Sorry for the mess, but we live here.” It always makes me smile because it acknowledges that life is often a messy business. Between the kids leaving crumpled up homework,...

I get sinus infections. I often get them more than once a year. By the time my symptoms go from bad to worse, I’m on antibiotics, an antihistamine, a steroid inhaler, a nasal spray, a nasal rinse, an anti-inflammatory, an antacid, and chicken soup....

Let’s take a moment and imagine being there. We have just borne witness to one of the most miraculous events in human history. God has split the Red Sea, and we and 2 million other former slaves have crossed on dry land. Meanwhile, our former masters,...

This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward's free email newsletters delivered to your inbox. The conspiracy theory started, ironically, when an Orthodox rabbi stood in front of a display of Coca-Cola bottles and...

How do I know the Passover Project: A Musical Seder was a hit? The venue ran out of matzah ball soup. And tickets too. That was the scene Tuesday night, April 8, at City Winery in the Foundry, where more than 250 guests filled the room for the second...

Streit’s, the kosher food company that’s best known for its matzah, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.  And while many things have changed since the matzah bakery was first opened on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side in 1925...