Sermon for Day 1 of Rosh Hashanah 5780 — September 30, 2019 According to tradition, the powerful, piercing cry of the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah is meant to awaken us from our spiritual and moral slumber, the mindless and purposeless … Continue reading
Parashat Mas’ei, the last portion of Ba-Midbar, is both backward and forward looking in nature: It is backward looking, because it begins with a recapitulation of all the places the Israelites sojourned in the wilderness; and it is forward looking … Continue reading
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about luck. It all started this past summer, when my friend Nadya invited me to her naturalization ceremony. Now, I’d never been to such a ceremony before. But I assumed it would be a … Continue reading
Temple Beth-El, Richmond, Virginia, July 22, 2018 כָּל֨וּ בַדְּמָע֤וֹת עֵינַי֙ חֳמַרְמְר֣וּ מֵעַ֔י “My eyes are spent with tears, my heart is in tumult.” These are the words of the biblical book of Lamentations, traditionally believed to have been authored by … Continue reading
The Tisch