A famous dispute
Tonight I want to tell you the tale of two disputes. The first is a famous dispute between the conductor Leonard Bernstein and the pianist Glenn Gould. The second…
Half Empty or Half Full?
I have heard it said that a pessimistic person thinks that the glass is half empty. The optimistic person says that the glass is half full. And the hopeful person…
Time to Move Forward
Silver trumpets from KingTut's tomb. 1326BCEThis week’s Torah portion introduces us to two objects that were of great importance to the Israelites as they traveled through the wilderness. Both are…
Who Counts?
Jewish tradition seems to be very ambivalent about counting. On the one hand, the Psalms teach us to “number our days, so that we may attain a heart of wisdom”.…
Reflection on the Lag BaOmer Tragedy in Israel
Our Parasha for this week, Emor, lists all the festivals we are to observe throughout the year. The Torah first lists Shabbat, then the other festivals -- Passover, Shavuot, Rosh…
Wholly Holy?
Today’s words of Torah are brought to you by the Hebrew word “Kodesh”.“Kodesh” means “holy”. In this week’s parasha the Jewish People are enjoined to be a “Holy People”. The…
Happy 73rd Birthday, Israel!
Over the past year many words have crept into our day-to-day language…. “Pandemic”, “lockdown”, “masking” “social distancing” and “PPE” are some of the words that we used infrequently…
Judaism and Baseball
Inspired by opening day, which was yesterday, I found myself writing these lyrics: To the tune of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game) Take me out to the…
The Mental Health Seder Plate
Tomorrow night marks the beginning of Passover. I am certain that most of us will be keenly aware that this seder will be the second time we hold our Seders…
To Err is Human
Photo: Chris Liverani [Unsplash.com]Very few people study the book of the Torah we begin this week, the Book of Leviticus, or Vayikra. I pity the poor bar or bat mitzvah student…