Parashat Yitro is the ideal reading for a discussion about leadership and delegation. Moses’ father-in-law, Yitro, brings Zipporah and her two sons to Moses in the wilderness. After a reunion that involves sharing the accomplishments made only through...

B’shalach is the fourth of 11 chapters in the Book of Exodus. It describes the Israelites ascent out of Egypt and records the dramatic happenings in the aftermath of the death of Egypt’s first born. B’shalach begins in chaos at the Red Sea and...

In 1853, Theodore Parker, an abolitionist and advocate for women’s suffrage and a Unitarian minister, preached these words: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate...

Shemot, one of the most well-known and beloved passages of Torah, is this week’s Torah portion. Shemot begins the saga of our people that has become a foundational text for generations of people of faith. These words carry a universal message about...

Congregation Shaare Emeth will host Rabbi Lisa Goldstein for its next Deutsch-Scholar-in-Residence weekend, Feb. 3 to 5. Goldstein, who served as assistant rabbi at Shaare Emeth in the mid-1990s, is now the executive director of the Institute for Jewish...

This coming Shabbat in communities the world over, the public reading of the Sefer Bereshit (the Book of Genesis) will be drawn to a close as we chant, study and quest to find existential meaning in the words of Parashat Vayechi — the final few chapters...

I have a tradition every Friday afternoon. It doesn’t matter where I am or where my mother is. I receive my Shabbat blessing. I have been in the car or in the grocery store, answering, “Amen, Shabbat shalom, I love you.”  Receiving this blessing...

Retweeted over the past week have been the words of Rabbi David Wolpe: “The Shamash is the candle that lights the others. Be a Shamash.” Important words for this season as we are reminded of the power of light but more specifically the power of...

I am a sports fan. An unashamed, unabashed sports fan. To be sure, I want to see a better world, one that is fairer and more just, one in which there is respect for all persons and living things, for the planet, its populations and its ecosystems, and...

Vayetze is the sixth out of 12 portions in the Book of Genesis. It opens after the dramatic episode in which Jacob tricks his father,  Isaac, and robs his brother Esau of the birthright and blessing belonging to the eldest child. Fearing for his life,...

As I age, I find myself reading the Torah through an entirely different set of lenses. I find the people whose stories are told in the text to be much more human and their experiences much more universal. That is certainly the case with this week’s...

America has had a choice to make about its future. We have been casting our votes, and the results are in, and they are painful. No, I don’t mean the presidential election that took place Nov. 8 with all of the scapegoating, threats, anger and fear...