Parashat Ha Shavua Commentaries

The Passover Seder is a moment of profound transition, when we move from being Avadim (slaves) to Benei Chorin (liberated people). Such transitions are not to be taken lightly. They require immense preparation - of body, mind, and spirit - if one wishes for them to go smoothly. Read more...

An auto mechanic working on a new model car opens the Chilton manual to learn the car's specifications and directions for its repair. A therapist encountering an unfamiliar problem consults the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A tax accountant consults a stack of manuals detailing this year's deductions and allowances. Every profession has its "tech manual." Even rabbis. When I was ordained, I received the little black book with the words recited at the bris, under the Huppah, and at graveside. Read more...

I've struggled to write this Dvar Torah. When times are tough, I find no comfort in complaint, and am instead silenced. Raised by British immigrants to the United States, who were themselves raised by Polish and Lithuanian immigrants to England, I was taught to "keep calm and carry on." One of my favorite books is Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. This masterpiece deals with events of the French Revolution of 1789. Here is an excerpt from the famous first paragraph: Read more...

Before Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took the stage in 1963 at the March on Washington to offer his prophetic, "I Have a Dream" speech, Rabbi Yoachim Prinz, the president of the American Jewish Congress, spoke about the danger of America becoming a "nation of onlookers," bystanders who remain silent in the face of segregation and inequality. The German-born Rabbi Prinz knew this experience all too well, having served as a rabbi in Germany before being arrested by the Gestapo several times. He was ultimately rescued by the sponsorship of Rabbi Stephen Wise to come to the US in 1937. Read more...

All Jewish kids get A's. It's a fact. They're all above average. They all go on to Stanford, Brown and Berkeley. They all are the champ in debate, first violin in the orchestra, the lead in the play, the captain of the team. But what happens when they're not? What happens when they don't excel? What happens when they fail? "You're not working up to your potential," a teacher once scolded me. And I suffered. Only years later did I realized that no one "works up to their potential." Such a demand is limitless; a requirement that can never be satisfied. Read more...