(JTA) — Rabbi Arthur Green gave the commencement address last week at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Conservative flagship where he was ordained 56 years earlier. His talk was mostly a response to political turmoil in Israel, but he also urged...

Story about helping Ukrainian family warms the heart  In this frightening world with so many upsetting issues in the news, it was heartwarming for me to read about Lynn Wittels and her generosity in helping the Ukrainian family whose son, Nikita, needed...

I love television so much that it inspired my home office décor, as you can see from this photo. Television can simultaneously be a huge waste of time, a way to stay informed, and educational, depending on what you’re watching.  Which category do...

Recently, a friend posted a video of a popular motivational speaker discussing why some children struggle to make friends. He concluded that it was a parent’s job to “maximize the social attractiveness of your children — because they need friends...

“You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”  — Former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan As you have probably heard, Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson is off the air. In my judgment, Carlson and his former colleagues...

Exactly 23 years ago on Mother’s Day, I marched in the Million Mom March alongside numerous Jewish organizations in Washington, D.C. after my first-grade daughter went on national television talking about her fear of guns in her school.  Nothing...

The priestly blessing found in next week’s parashah, Naso, is one that has been an important part of our people’s story for three millennia.   In the days when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the priests offered this blessing on behalf of G-d to...

It’s difficult to imagine that anyone dreams of becoming a census taker, of going door to door counting the number of inhabitants and recording their ages, their genders, their relationships, and then counting the number of rooms in their homes, even...

Nissan and Tishrei are arguably the most well-known Hebrew months because of Pesach and Rosh ha-Shanah; others like Tish’a b-Av, the 9th of Av, are known by their date, like the 4th of July. As we begin the fourth book of the Torah — B-midbar / Numbers...

You’ve seen the photograph.  Three Israeli paratroopers, their eyes glistening with tears, gaze up at the ancient stones of the Western Wall in awe and wonder.  Jerusalem is ours! On June 5, 1967, with enemy tanks massed on Israel’s borders and...

I signed up months ago to write this week’s d’var Torah. I remember thinking what a fun parasha this would be to share with you all. I love the discussion of the jubilee year and of the gifts made to the sanctuary, and of the idealism that closes...

Troubling history  The online article published April 3 about Holocaust rescuer Varian Fry (“New Netflix show ‘Transatlantic’ chronicles an effort to save artists and thinkers from Nazis,” by PJ Grisar of the Forward, reprinted with permission...