By Rabbi Dale Schreibe
• Published October 30, 2013
Our portion begins with eleh toldot, these are the generations of Isaac. The word toldot has a number of meanings. One is generations. Other equally compelling renderings are — these are the consequences or outcomes. The portion is the mid-point of...
By Rabbi James Stone Goodman
• Published October 23, 2013
The portion Life of Sarah (Chayei Sarah) begins with the death of Sarah, as if the confrontation with death refines the notion of life. At the end of life, life clarifies. Nothing brings a person to the long look at existence like the brink. When you...
Did you know… - Breakfast, as we understand it today, didn’t exist for a large part of history. In fact, ancient Romans saw it as gluttonous to eat more than one meal a day.- My high school in Atlanta is five hundred and fifty-five...
“God heard the cry of the boy, and an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the cry of the boy (Ishmael) where he is” (Genesis 21:17) The Torah speaks powerfully...
Total belief and devotion to G-d and to Judaism is probably one of the only concepts that’s easier for a child than for an adult. When we’re young, it’s simple; the logic is so cut and dry: We know G-d exists because… (1) People have been believing...
Last week, an article in the New York Times presented the findings of a recent survey of American Jews (see related story on Page One). The results, while complicated, were presented with a simple, dire proclamation: American Jews are losing their religion. ...
This week, we read parshat Noach, the second parshah of the Torah. It’s a well known story: G-d saw that the people of the earth had been corrupted, so He instructed Noah to build in ark, inside which Noah, his family, and the animals would be protected...
BY RABBI DALE SCHREIBER
• Published October 2, 2013
We are hardly through the wonder of creation when the biblical narrative tells us that creation had failed to live up to its potential. The fundamental nature of human life remained at a bestial level. It was a failed experiment requiring a new paradigm. ...
By Rabbi James Stone Goodman
• Published September 25, 2013
I studied the book Bahir (often translated as the Book of Brightness or Illumination) with Dr. I. O. Lehman, of blessed memory, who taught five of us in a secret class at the Hebrew Union College. In those days, Hebrew Union College was not known for...
BY RABBI JOSEF DAVIDSON
• Published September 18, 2013
Over my life I have made 16 moves for an average of a move every four years. The longest that I have ever lived in one house is eleven years, and the longest that I have ever resided in one city was 14. The shortest residence I ever had was eight...
Here we are once again. The time to welcome in the Jewish New Year has come. During moments such as these, when we embark on something new, we first tend to undergo some form of reflection—we look back past events and set new goals for the future. We...
By Rabbi Jim BennettMy father was a wandering pathologist; we moved five times during my childhood, as my father chose to leave his family medical practice and return to medical school and a residency in pathology, and then pursued his career as a clinical...
