"Take a census of the whole Israelite community..." (Numbers 1:2) Last month Americans filled out their own census forms as part of the U.S. census taken every ten years. The data from the census has many practical implications, including the number of members of the House of Representatives each state will have and federal government allocations for such things as education, welfare, and infrastructure. It also helps the government understand the nature of our family configurations and health status so that it knows who we are as a nation and how to plan for our future. Read more...

Dear ones, there are many questions that are reverberating in this sanctuary right now. I take the liberty to challenge you one last time, one last question, at this last moment before you are called up to receive your title as "rav u'moreh / morah b'yisrael": Is this a moment of "V'zote Ha'bracha" or is this a moment of "B'reishit"? Read more...

And God spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year of their exodus from the land of Egypt... (Numbers 1:1) Read more...

Some time ago, I received a message from a friend, asking me to call her back to help answer what she called a rabbi question. At the first free moment, I called her back. Friends of hers, a couple who had been married for what was going on twenty five years were interested in renewing their vows in celebration of their upcoming anniversary. But, she said, they wanted to know what Judaism had to say about the renewal of wedding vows. Read more...

Judaism in antiquity was a rugged, grounded faith.   Poised between wandering in the wilderness and entering a promised land, the spirituality of biblical Judaism was one of creation as a sign of God’s greatness and munificence, of learning to love a particular land as our inheritance and as God’s gift. Biblical festivals and holy days pulsated to the cycles of agriculture and of weather, recalling not only the great events of Israel’s past, but also the way the earth could adorn itself and provide for its denizens throughout the year. Read more...