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Evicting People in the Rainy Season
According to the Talmud, a landlord cannot evict a tenant during the entire rainy season. Clearly, our tradition teaches us that having compassion for those who live in houses we own is as important...
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Walking through Birkenau for the First and Thirteenth Time
I have just returned from eight days touring the sites of Judaism in Central Europe with six teenagers and one soon-to-be HUC student. When I first interviewed at my current congregation, I was asked,...
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We Were Slaves In The Land Of Egypt
Today is the 23rd day of the omer, the period of counting that Jews engage in from Passover to Shavuot. The omer has come to be a period of self-reflection, a spiritual journey from slavery to...
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Why I, a Rabbi, Support LGBT Equality
Marriage equality has been in the news, pretty much non-stop, for a couple of days now. First, North Carolina passed Amendment 1, banning any kind of legal civil union, other than heterosexual...
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Setting our Foundation on Shavuot
There is an elderly man named Jay in my congregation who came into my office last week and told me some disturbing news. He lived his life with dignity and worked hard as a social worker. He did...
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Rethinking Memorial Day
Barbecues, sales at big-box retailers, baseball games and glossy advertisements in the Sunday paper with patriotic images. Yep, Monday we will mark Memorial Day – at least in the United States. It...
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Defying Boundaries
Last week in Greenville, Mississippi, we at the Hebrew Union Congregation, and the First Presbyterian Church had our annual pulpit exchange. This is an event that both communities have very quickly...
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The Challenges of Scarcity and Abundance
I participated in the Greater Philadelphia Food Stamp Challenge a few weeks ago. The concept is simple: Participants voluntarily limit the amount of money they spend on food each day to $5, the...
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Speaking Out for the Strangers in My Land
“When strangers sojourn with you in your land, you shall not do them wrong. The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you...
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Tikkun Olam 24/7: What you eat, what you buy and how you use your money
Having lived within Jewish congregations all my life, I learned to have tzedakah very present in my mind. Now, as an educator and rabbi, I think and speak about tikkun olam a lot, and I am always...
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They Are All Our Children
She only says a few words, but our friends’ granddaughter Stella has one expression down cold: “Uh-oh.” She says it when she drops a toy on the floor or sees a dog trying to sneak food off the table....
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A Jewish Independence Day
Here’s my family’s July 4th ritual: In the morning, we put out the American flag and sing Phil Ochs’ song “Power and Glory”: Come on and take a walk with me thru this green and growing land Walk thru...
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The Outrage over Changing One’s Mind
There is a growing fervor among conservative legislators and citizens that they were wronged by the vote of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on the constitutionality of Obama’s health care...
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The Mitzvah of Voting
Among my many lasting childhood memories from Lynbrook, Long Island, New York, is the perennial pilgrimage I would make with my parents to the gymnasium of my William F. Buck Elementary School in...
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To Bring the Homeless Poor Into Your Home
Last Yom Kippur, I spoke on the faith community of our town’s response to the growing number of homeless families. Through our Interfaith Council, we are attempting to create a Family Promise Network....
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Don’t Just Intend to…Do it!
Below is a meditation on last week’s parsha, Matot-Massei (Numbers 30:2-36:13) How many times have we meant to call our legislator, wanted to sign that petition but let it fall to the bottom of our...
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Chick-fil-…what?
I love the recent Chik-fil-A debate, in which the CEO of Chick-fil-A has publicly condemned gay marriage, sparking many public figures to speak out against the restaurant chain. Regardless of how one...
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Let’s Have an Elite Lunch
As the Olympics came to a close, the now well-known swimmer medalist Cullen Jones was asked to share his best memories of the 2012 Olympics. At the top of his list he, explained, was the athletes’...
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Our Responsibility During a “Bloody Summer”
It has been a bloody summer here in America. The violent shooting and murder of twelve people at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado was shortly followed by an attack on a Sikh gurdwara (a house of...
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The Three Commandments: Does number two still apply?
As a kid, I thought there were three (not ten) COMMANDMENTS in our family. I’m not sure anymore what elevated these three over “be honest,” “no playing on the stairs,” or “stay away from my peonies,”...
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