Today, we observe the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Today is also Erev Rosh Hashanah, the eve of our New Year 5787. We typically see the period of time from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur as a time of reflection, repentance, and aspiration for a happy year to come. Though this time is sometime…
A beautiful version of an excerpt from the Shabbat Candlelighting prayer came up in my instagram feed this past month, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. The song is ‘V’Zakeini’ “May I merit”.
An individual, usually the mother lighting candles on erev Shabbat, says the prayer …
This week, Americans and good people worldwide mourned the loss of Dolly Parton at age 80. Many loved her music, her acting, her public image, or her many successful businesses. Others were inspired by her humanity, generosity and philanthropy, which was innovative and substantial. She inspi…
Did I catch your attention with that cryptic title?
As the summer progresses and we gear up for our community campaign, we’ve been focusing on the idea of WHY. Why do we do any of the things we’ve come to see as necessary for Jewish life to flourish? From tzedakah to advocacy, from strength…
I did an experiment just before writing this message. I scrolled through my feed on social media, looking for non political and non conflict related Jewish content from my friends, many of whom are creators, artists, rabbis, educators, singers, chazzanim and deeply connected Jews.
One outco…
Those who have been reading these messages for a while will know that I count JRR Tolkien among my biggest literary and language influences. When I first read his works about 40-45 years ago, there was one particular passage in The Fellowship of the Ring that resonated deeply with me - with …
Over the last several days, I’ve taken particular note of developments at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. As you may know, Israel is headed to an election at the end of October. The current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been in power for about 15.5 of the last 17 years in Israel,…
Many years ago, I did some learning and much work with Rabbi Michael Skobac, co-founder of the wonderful Jews For Judaism organization. We collaborated on countering deceptive missionary tactics and educating young and vulnerable members of our community to immunize themselves against this a…
In the wake of this week’s primary results across the country, but especially in New York City, it’s time to revisit a bit of a Political Science lesson, one I learned many years ago. If you want to understand what happened in Tuesday’s primaries, and what has been evolving for years, there’…
Like many of us, I’m feeling an acute sense of unease at the way in which the Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran was achieved, the terms included, and those not included. I’ve read and listened to some of the analysts I respect most over the last several days, and my unease …
I’ve been reading about Col. Anne McClain, one of the astronauts picked for the Artemis project, aiming for a return to the moon over the next few years. Like several family members of mine, she’s a decorated combat veteran. Like only a few of my acquaintances, she has thousands of hours in …
One of his missions in life is to make people smile.
Not a quick, polite smile. An ear to ear grin, perhaps accompanied by an eyeroll, but always aimed to lighten the heart and the burdens it carries, both seen and unseen.
I am grateful for the almost five years I’ve known him.
Who am I t…
Once upon a time, there was a riot. Weeks after Yasser Arafat refused what President Clinton called the best offer anyone would ever get at Camp David in the fall of 2000, he directed the beginning of what was initially called the second intifada, but what would become the AL Aksa war. Among…
Though I’ve been steeped in the minutiae of Jewish history since I was a child, I wasn’t always aware, growing up in an immigrant household in Toronto, that there was even a category such as that applied to the stories and sagas of Jewish communities in North America, more specifically Jewis…
Yesterday, I was listening to a podcast, as I often do while I’m driving. The podcaster was the incredibly articulate Jonah Platt, son of recent Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) Board Chair Julie Platt, who championed the LiveSecure initiative which helped fund our own security ini…
