Parashat Ha Shavua Commentaries

 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...

Sukkot is the festival marking our turn from the introspection of Rosh Ha-Shanah and the inner work of Yom Kippur. On this Festival of Booths, we built shelters that are simultaneously frail and resilient, reflecting the existential reality of human life and community. Read more...

In today’s world, many people spend more time at their place of employment than they do with their loved ones.  In fact, if you think about it, the average adult will likely spend more than 100,000 hours of their lifetime on the job.  So, what it is it about our work that often leads to such an imbalance of time allocation?   Read more...

The great Jewish existentialist, Franz Rosenzweig, began his monumental philosophy of Judaism, The Star of Redemption with these words: All knowledge of the Whole has its source in death, in the fear of death.”  That abiding fear, and the inescapable destination of all human lives, and of all human life, in death, is a fact beyond appeal. There are no exceptions, no delays, and no negotiations with our ultimate end. Read more...

  For some of us, a dawning sense of adulthood came with our first awareness of death.  Perhaps it was the death of a pet, perhaps it was the passing of a grandparent, but the realization that life had an end, that we would not last forever, changed each one of us in an instant. Suddenly life was transformed from simple light and joy to a more complex and bittersweet mix.  The melody of life switched from the major to a minor key. Read more...