First, a clarification: I'm writing about the traditional reading of the Yom Kippur Torah portion. For reasons I thoroughly understand your congregation may substitute a more "relevant" reading, however, I do feel the traditional reading has much to teach...

During this season of the Jewish High Holidays, it is our responsibility to do tshuvah (repentance). Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur there are ten days called Aseret Yemei Tshuvah or the Ten Days of Repentance. It is this time when we focus on our...

Several years ago, I had a sixth grade student who attended both the Milwaukee Jewish Day School and my congregation's religious school. She came to me with a complaint that she was learning the same things at each school. When I asked her to explain...

Around the world this week, the Torah portion read this week is entitled Shoftim (Judges). This portion seeks to set forth a system of justice and a culture of political and social responsibility. The Torah lays out guidelines for the appointment of social...

Though it would be ideal if all Jews could be once again residing in Eretz Yisra'el, that is not the case.  Jews live on every inhabitable continent in the world.  Jews have acculturated to life in galut (Diaspora) and the destruction of Temple, the...

Charles de Gaulle is supposed to have have asked how he could govern a people with 246 cheeses.  This is a notable milestone on a long history of leaders (even great and beloved ones) complaining about the people they are supposed to lead. One of the...

In the history of the world and in world literature, there have been many famous couples and lovers: Antony and Cleopatra, Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal (for whom he built the Taj Mahal), Lancelot and Guinevere, Napoleon and Josephine, Orpheus and Eurydice,...

Beginning a new book of Torah is a bit like greeting an old friend. The Book of Deuteronomy always begins in the heat of the summer, at the end of a ritual three weeks of diminished joy, on the Sabbath just before Tisha B'Av. Interestingly, the rabbis...

My Shabbat morning Torah study has become a highlight of my week at Temple Emanuel. We meet for study and discussion of the weekly Torah portion, but the fun of our learning lies in the loose, freewheeling nature of our discussions.This year, we have...

You know we are dreaming peace all the time nowthe evidence of that broken letter vavin the word shalom of brit shalom [Numbers 25:12]the covenant of peacethat may be what's holding it up - Let's fix the vav in the brit shalomthis reward that is given...