Jews tend to think that the whole world is Jewish – or, at least, that everyone thinks and acts as Jews do.  Simchat Torah is clear evidence that that is not so.    Read more...

Simchat Torah is a holiday of re-reading. We complete our annual cycle and begin again with the Story of Creation. I am a big re-reader. I love returning to the texts that move me most and discovering in them new resonance based on the state of my life or the state of our world. Read more...

The last time I attended a Torah reading at my synagogue was the Shabbat of March 14, parashat Ki Tissa, in the latter part of Exodus. By Monday, Los Angeles was under lockdown and the American Jewish University took classes on-line. Read more...

Coming off of Yom Kippur, I find myself in a confessing mood. So here goes. I watch a lot of television - sometimes on an actual TV set, mostly on my computer. Do I watch too much TV? Well, compared to what? I watch less than those who watch more than me-but they are all lazy, shiftless, unambitious boors-and more than those who watch less than me-but they all have an ascetic streak and want you to be vegetarian and do yoga. In any event it seems that I am not alone in this vice. Read more...

Simchat Torah celebrates God’s gift of Torah to the Jewish people, and our age-old love affair with the Torah. As we swirl and dance with these precious scrolls, now may be a particularly appropriate time to consider what the Torah really means, and how it connects our lives to God’s will. In short, let’s take a moment to consider how we relate to God and how God relates to us.   Read more...