When addressing a group of rabbis several years back, a colleague of mine quipped, “this week we begin the Book of Leviticus, the moment rabbis begin worrying about High Holy Days.”  It was March. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were…

Twenty-five years ago, or so, I sat down in a room with a dozen or so people and came up with a framework for an overnight summer camp that didn’t exist yet, what would be the first camp in the…

The nice thing about writing for newspapers is how concise it is.  Every word – no matter how short or how long – matters.  The Torah is similarly concise.  The Ten Commandments, or more accurately the Ten Words, has for…

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before:  a righteous person goes on top of their roof to escape the waters of a flood, all the time praying to God for assistance.  When a small boat comes by, he brushes…

Asser Levy was one of the original 23 Jews who arrived in America in 1654.  These brave pioneers fleeing the Inquisition found refuge in the shores of New Amsterdam.  Asser Levy was a fierce freedom fighter, who had to fight…

As a teenager, Michael Jackson was top on my list of favorite artists.  His album Thriller came out when I was in grade school and I remember listening to the songs play over and over at the roller-skating rink.  So,…