When Sister Sledge sang about family in the 1970s, they were singing about themselves.  Debbie, Joni, Kim and Kathy not only were actual sisters, but they created award winning music still popular almost five decades later.  The song itself was…

Genesis.47.28-50.26 In the Torah, eyes are often the source of vitality. Moses is described at the end of Deuteronomy as having eyes that had yet to dim.  Jacob, on the other hand, is described this week in Parashat Vayechi as…

Vayigash – Genesis 44:18-47:27 Anecdotally, the most common way a synagogue will describe itself is as a “warm and welcoming” environment.  Why?  Because so much of our experience outside of synagogue life, and sadly inside of it, is vastly different. …

100 years ago in 1921, Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition for the great contributions he made to science.  Einstein not only changed the way we think of space and gravity, but of time itself.  No…

Genesis.32.4-36.43 How ironic that the first true, honest interfaith dialogue was between siblings.  The household of Isaac and Rebecca was a divided one.  As you may remember from the Torah portion several weeks ago, when Rebecca inquired of God why…

Genesis.23.1-25.18 In 1973, two Princeton professors conducted a study using Christian seminarians. The students were asked to head across campus to give a sermon on the story of the Good Samaritan, a parable in the Christian Bible about the lack…

Ha’Azinu – Deuteronomy 32:1-52 A poem in honor of Moses’ last poem from Ha’Azinu. It was written about the great violinist for the Buffalo Orchestra Marilyn Kregal. It is also included in a new collection of poetry I just published.…