"I will make My holy name known among My people Israel, and never again will I let My holy name be profaned. And the nations shall know that I the Lord am holy in Israel." (Ezekiel 39:7) In this verse from today's haftarah, God is announcing that His great war against Gog, symbol of all God's enemies, will make it clear to the nations that God rules the world. This is parallel to the theme we read in the Torah concerning the Exodus, where God brings on the plagues to convince both the Israelites and the Egyptians of His power (Exodus 7:5, 17; 14:4). Read more...

As Americans, our Declaration of Independence tells us that we have the unalienable rights to 'life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness." Self-evident symbols that we are all created equally, these endowments belong to each one of us, and become our pursuit should we opt to seek them. Paradoxically, as Jews approaching the holiday of Sukkot, happiness is not only a right, but a responsibility - or so says the Torah. Read more...

Ever since I left home to serve two years of “National Service” in Tzfat and Jerusalem, and then off to university, I’ve been paying rent, every month of my life. A lot of rent, and thank God, many months. Read more...

Sukkot is known in rabbinic tradition as zman simhateinu, the season of our joy. Yet it comes on the heals of a time of year during which we focus on the large issues of life and death, of human frailty and resilience, on what our purpose on this planet is, and on how we are using (and on how we are meant to use) our time.  The months of Elul and Tishri, containing the Days of Awe offer a natural invitation to introspect, to stand before God in our nakedness, which is to say, in complete honesty, unfeigned, as we truly are. Read more...

 A Judaism Large As Life: 350 Years of Jews in North America As we prepare to celebrate Judaism’s most joyous Festival, Hag Ha-Sukkot, the Festival of Booths, we recall and re-enact our ancestor’s wanderings in the wilderness, and their sense of dwelling within God’s protective love – symbolized by the booths we continue to construct at this season. Such an occasion is a fitting time to consider another wandering of historic proportion, the 350th anniversary of Jewish settlement in North America, itself noteworthy and a cause for reflection.   Read more...