Rabbi’s Torah Thoughts

When Bob Weir, of Grateful Dead fame, wrote the song “Truckin’” he was thinking of the immense toll being a rock and roller can have on a person’s body and soul.  As he told the Wall Street Journal: “[Our touring…

What if God was not one thing, but many things, able to appear in whatever form we need in whatever time we most need? One of my favorite midrashim of all time from the Pesikta de-Rav Kahana describes this possibility…

Chelm, as anyone knows, is a mystical place in Poland full of folly, dressed as wisdom.  There is a long tradition of stories about all the bad decisions made by the leaders of this small European shtetl.  Shalom Aleichem, Isaac…

There is something difficult about coming to the end of Genesis.  Not only do we have to say goodbye to the wonderful characters of the inaugural book of the Torah, but the path ahead is long and difficult.  While the…

To Judah and his brothers, the man standing in front of them who held their lives in balance, was a complete stranger.  And not just a stranger, but an outsider.  They were there to beg for mercy, a reprieve from…

On Hanukkah we shine a light into darkness to try to make a difference.  The Menorahs we place in our windows are not merely decorative, but projections of our values out into the world. For the past two years I…

In the final episode of Seinfeld, the central characters of the sitcom are accused of being bystanders.  Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer watch as a heavy-set man is carjacked, poking fun at him instead of rushing to his aide.  In…

There are forty-four candles in a box of Hanukkah candles, enough for every night of the holiday.  Every is candle vital to performing the mitzvah of our festival of lights.  As instructed by Rabbi Hillel, we start with just one,…

At the shiva service for Dr. Morris Unher of blessed memory, the line of people to greet the family extended all the way to the door.  All of them had one thing in common: he had assisted in their birthing…

Last week, I had an opportunity to watch the musical “Come From Away” at Shea’s 710 Theatre.  The 2017 Broadway production tells the true story of the 38 flights stranded for several days in Gander, Newfoundland after 9/11.  The seven…