Blog

We wrongly assumed that in the wake of the horrors of the Holocaust, antisemitism stopped. We now know that it merely took a hiatus, awaiting the right moment to reappear. The Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017 officially opened the doors, and 10.27 blew the doors off the hinges. It has become acceptable to be an antisemite in public. Scholars, psychologists and social scientists might debate and offer varying views on...Read more...

Judaism is supposed to be about joy, and how we can infuse joy into all that we do. We just finished Simchat Torah, which literally means “the joy of the Torah”. The entire eight-day festival of Sukkot is known as Z’man Simchateinu, “the season of our joy”. A common phrase uttered when leaving a simcha is “nor af simchas”, may we merit another one. The gathering after Friday evening services is...Read more...

If I had any input in the Jewish calendar, which I do not, I would have shared the thought that the month of Tishrei is far too overprogrammed. We have Rosh Hashanah on the 1st and 2nd, Yom Kippur on the 10th, Sukkot on the 15-22 and Simchat Torah on the 23rd. By the time we have concluded this seemingly non-stop run of hagim, we need a break! 

I do believe that Sukkot...Read more...

This past week I attended the fifth annual Eradicate H Global Summit here in Pittsburgh. It was created five years ago by Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg and Laura Ellsworth as a response to the massacre in Tree of Life as a positive step, with its title answering the question of what it is about. With the gathering the week before Rosh Hashanah, it was just not possible to attend the entire summit, so I...Read more...

While many might opine reasons why Judaism continues to flourish after 4,000 years, I’d like to focus on two: life and portability. All that we do, all that God expects of us, is focused on life. We are encouraged to live our lives to the fullest, embracing joy and celebration of family, Shabbat and holidays, and building community. God wants us to develop to be the best possible versions of ourselves, and in...Read more...