A relatively new film shows triplets separated at birth as part of an experiment that was designed to discover whether it is nature or nurture that determines who each individual is to become. While the ethics of such an experiment are certainly questionable...

In the beginning, when G-d was creating the world, humans were created in G-d’s image. That we were created b’tzelem Elokim, “In the image of G-d,” has been a positive and a negative for the Jewish people. It is a negative concept if G-d is a...

I ran into one of the prophets at Schnucks. He was looking over the fresh fruit. Someone spotted him and he signed a cantaloupe with this: I love you with all my broken heart.Then he started to recite poetry. Three weeks I sat in sadness, he declaimed,...

This week’s double portion, Matot-Masei, includes a number of dramatic and memorable moments from the Torah: The Israelites go to war with Midian; the daughters of Tzelafechad finally receive their inheritance after making a bold legal and moral argument...

Recently, I was invited to facilitate a discussion for an interfaith group of younger seminarians. The organizer, a delightful, gregarious and deeply spiritual professor of Christian theology, wanted me to expose his students to the “Jewish Approach...

In Parashat Balak, we read a vivid and strange episode in the life of the Israelites. As the Israelites draw near to Moab, the Moabites find themselves terrified of this foreign people approaching their country. The Moabite king, Balak, decides to meet...

Hidden away amid the famous story in this week’s Torah portion of the spies sent to scout the land of Israel, and tucked behind the suspense and drama of false testimony, communal wailing and the punishment of 40 years wandering the desert, we find...

People often ask me how I chose to be a rabbi. For many, if not most, the decision to lead a life of religious service is at least a little odd. “There must be a story,” a neighbor of mine said recently.Often, however, my story is a letdown. Making...

When I was a very young rabbi in my first position as B’nai B’rith chaplain to the Mayo Clinic system’s hospitals, I met a woman from a Hasidic community during my rounds one day. As we were talking, she gave voice to a crisis in faith. As...

Parashat Emor opens with a list of laws and regulations that outline differences between the Temple Priests and the rest of the community: The priests must mourn differently, marry differently, treat their bodies differently and fiercely guard the ritual...

It was Tuesday, Sept. 23, 1997, when I received the call from my father that my beloved mother had finally succumbed to her metastatic lung cancer. At our congregation in Chattanooga, Tenn., I was deeply involved in preparations for the High Holy Days,...

Over the past many months, we have been on a journey together. We transitioned from the month of Shevat to Adar, changing our outlook to one of happiness and rejoicing as we prepared for the celebration of Purim. As we say, “mi she’nichnas Adar marbim...