You probably think from the title that this message will focus on the debate between former President Trump and Vice President Harris that took place earlier this week. I’m sorry to disappoint you.
No, the great debate I had in mind is the distinction between sweet and savory. In most pl…
A couple of days ago, I was standing on a podium, addressing a group of about fifty people, talking about the current situation in Israel. I spoke of the very immediate feelings of shock and dismay at the news of the execution of six hostages by Hamas HYD.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin,
Eden Yerusha…
In 1952, Life Magazine published Ernest Hemingway’s last significant work, his novella ‘The Old Man and the Sea’.
Many of us of course have read it, perhaps more than once. In it, the old and unlucky fisherman Santiago goes out fishing after 12 weeks without a catch.
When he finally …
As many of you now know, several days ago on August 9th, a sermon was given at a local mosque by an individual who was not the Imam or a regular speaker. The sermon was live streamed and uploaded to the website of the mosque. The speaker began in English, but when he continued in Arabic, the…
My regular readers know that I am and always have been a historian. History was my first love, and it sometimes takes you to surprising places.
In the fall of 803 CE, a Frankish army besieged Barcelona, at the time a stronghold of the Ummayad Caliphate. In late October or early November, af…
Our tradition advises that these days between the 17th of Tammuz and the ninth of Av - especially the first nine days of Av - are described as ‘Bein Hametzarim’ or ‘In or between dire straits’ considering our historical calamities (the breaching of Jerusalem’s walls and destruction…
As most of you will have noted, yesterday marked 300 days of captivity for the hostages taken on 10/7. 300 days of darkness, privation, abuse and worse. So much has transpired in those 300 days, and yet we find ourselves still praying, still hoping, still advocating and still demanding the r…
One of John Lennon’s last songs, left unfinished and released after his death, was ‘Nobody Told Me’. One line in the first stanza has stayed with me since I was a teenager.
Nobody told me there’d be days like these, Strange days indeed, most peculiar mama!
We’ve all felt the trut…
Though I rarely share thoughts on the weekly Torah portion, I thought that this week was an interesting opportunity to draw pertinent and relevant conclusions from the fascinating narrative.
In this portion, the Moabite King Balak hires the prophet and soothsayer Bilam to curse the people …
In several weeks, we’ll be traveling to Israel on a Unity mission, and we invite you to join us. You can find more information and register HERE.
One of the important elements of our mission will be visiting IDF soldiers recovering from serious wounds at Tel Hashomer hospital. I’d like …
Yesterday, we celebrated the 248th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It gave me reason to consider that like many, if not most countries, the US was conceived in war. That has been the human condition throughout most of history - as Douglas Murray reminds us in his incredible a…
You’ve probably seen it in a photo or been there. The Hotel de Ville in Paris. Right next to the Seine River on the right bank. You know the famous post-war photo ‘Le baiser de l'Hôtel de Ville’ by Robert Doisneau? It was up on my wall when I was in university, as it was for many Gen …
I’ve got a number of responsibilities at the Federation. Among them is reaching out to members of other vulnerable and minority communities to enhance relationships between us. In the past, I’ve spoken out to console members of the African American community after the terrible mass shoot…
Like many if not all of you, I was overcome with joy when I heard last weekend of the rescue of four Israeli hostages from captivity by Hamas and its ‘civilian’ accomplices in the Nuseirat district of Gaza. Though several dozen Israelis remain in the hands of their brutal captors, this w…
Last year at about this time, I wrote about how, if the love and respect many of us have that informs our support of our friends in the LGBTQ+ community didn’t immediately resonate, that support could also be seen through another prism, of Jewish values espoused by Rabbi Akiva explaining t…
