Have We Been Lying To Our Children?
“The more we get together—and appreciate what each Jew brings to the table—the happier we’ll be.”
“The more we get together—and appreciate what each Jew brings to the table—the happier we’ll be.”
If it could be said that I am considered a ”writer,” then I must address what many have as a pet-peeve and what I have as a tool to help my fellow Jews.
Sadly, or perhaps humorously, one of the most famous Jethros in history may be Jethro Bodine. That is, the famed, half-witted Jethro of the Beverly Hillbillies.
Jerks. Bad people. Annoying people. Mean people. We all inevitably will be faced with the challenge of having to deal with these characters at some point in our lives. Some […]
Imagine being promised by the president and the entire government that you would be fully backed on a vital mission for your country, then having everything go south.
In 2010, I gave a sermon about the complexities Jewish Americans face each year on October 31st. After my sermon, I was approached by two different congregants. The first applauded me for being the first rabbi to get up and say that the celebration of Halloween by Jews was wrong, though I said no such thing. The second hugged me because she had been battling this dilemma for quite some time and now was happy her rabbi had permitted her kids to go trick or treating. Again, I made no such claim. At that point, it was clear to me that Halloween is an issue for Jewish Americans. I realized the need for some deeper research into Halloween, its history, and how Judaism should approach this common secular practice.
On my first trip to the State Fair I had my first taste of state politics, not just fried pickles on a stick. Candidates mingled with fair-goers at the great […]
That moment when you realize how much The Lion King can teach you about Torah.
“The stories in the Talmud reveal an imaginative richness and a striking sense of an ongoing task of narration as a crucial part of the interpretation and preservation of a treasured culture.”
Parallel lives, chiastic stories, and wondering Jews.