By Rabbi Josef A. Davidson
• Published November 19, 2014
In psychological lingo there is a term for an inner conflict between two opposing ideas, desires or needs. When one experiences this conflict, it is called consonant dissonance. It is characterized by a figure in the middle of two poles, first moving...
By Rabbi Micah Buck-Yael
• Published November 12, 2014
This week, as we look in to the Torah, we find a reading that takes us through numerous losses. The parashah opens with the death of Sarah, our first mother, and it closes with the deaths of Abraham and Ishmael, our first father and our first brother....
By Rabbi Lane Steinger
• Published November 5, 2014
Va-yeyra, our Torah Portion this week, is packed full of fascinating episodes. It contains the narrative of the extraordinary visit to Abraham and Sarah and announcement that the aged Matriarch will give birth “when life is due.” The parashah continues...
By Rabbi James M. Bennett
• Published October 15, 2014
Beginning Hebrew students in Israel experience many humorous moments encountering the Hebrew language. One of my favorites is a story a classmate told of picking grapefruit on a kibbutz. My friend was surrounded by fallen grapefruit in disarray and...
In college, I was part of a martial arts collective in which we began and ended our practice in a circle. Rather than sit in a line in belt order, we sat in a circle with the most advanced next to the least advanced, black belt adjacent to white belt....
By Rabbi Ari Shachar
• Published September 24, 2014
The “Days of Awe,” between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, constitute a liminal space – an “in-between” place where the possibility of transformation lies. The Sabbath that falls during these 10...
By Rabbi Josef Davidson
• Published September 17, 2014
Nitzavim/Veyelech is a very special Torah portion for me, as Shabbat Nitzavim was the day on which I was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah. In many ways, it was one of the greatest spiritual experiences of my life, and my becoming a rabbi may be, in...
By Maharat Rori Picker Neiss
• Published September 11, 2014
As the Israelites prepare to enter the Land of Israel in this week＊s parsha, Parshat Ki Tavo, Moses continues his directive to them of all the mitzvot that will be incumbent upon them in the land. The parsha opens: When you enter the land that the...
By Rabbi Ari KaimanThe word “today” is mentioned a total of eight times in Parashat Re’eh. This is how that parasha opens,“See, today I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin...
We all want to give our children better than what we had for ourselves. It is a natural inclination. We work hard in order that those who follow after us should not know the same struggles that we faced. We hope that the fears and uncertainties we have...
By Rabbi Josef Davidson
• Published August 7, 2014
We have fasted; we have prayed; we have mourned the destruction of the Temple, the exile of our people and the calamities that followed as a result of our powerlessness. Tisha B’av was an opportunity to begin the process of collective self-examination...
This summer I’ve had the incredible opportunity to spend time in St. Louis, as the Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Summer Rabbinic Intern at Congregation B’nai Amoona. I just returned from a year studying in Jerusalem, and so it should come as no surprise that...
