Dag Gadol

This past weekend on Shabbat I spoke a little bit about the challenge of Aaron’s silence. If you recall, in parashat Shemini, the dedication of the mishkan (the portable sanctuary constructed by the Israelites in the wilderness) is interrupted by a terrible calamity when Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu are burnt up in a heavenly fire after offering “strange fire” before God. The response to this…

Holding on to the value of our work in a volatile world. Being a congregational rabbi gives you a very particular perspective on the world’s events. People tend to share things with me about what’s going on in their lives, and in the lives of their relatives. From all those little conversations I tend to get a picture of what people seem to be worried about, what problems they’re currently…

I haven’t been doing much with this site in recent years, but the recent terrible election news here in the US has inspired me to reach out a little more than I have been doing. Here is a message I sent out to my congregants at Temple Concord. I hope it will also have some meaning for you: My dear friends,I know that many of you are hurting right now. I know that many of you are scared about…

In this lesson we take a look at the life of Rabbi Eliezer ben Horkenos, a first-generation Tanna perhaps best known for his excommunication over the oven of Achnai affair. Respected by all his fellow rabbis, he exemplified a conservative approach to halachah that emphasized a reliance upon received tradition as opposed to teachings based on logical inference and interpretation.

We look this week at the life of Rabban Gamliel, who served as the Nasi of the Sanhedrin in the years immediately following the destruction of the Second Temple. Among other things, we take a look at majority rule as a principle of rabbinic decision making, the importance of respect/honor as a rabbinic value, and the difficult position in which Jewish leaders found themselves vis-a-vis the Roman…

Teaching class from the sukkah this week! We begin our exploration of individual rabbis with a two-for-one deal: Hillel and Shammai, last and most famous of the Zugot (the “pairs” of pre-rabbinic sages who served as leaders of the Sanhedrin in the period before the destruction of the Second Temple). The disagreements and debate between the schools of Hillel and Shammai served as a model for…

I with my students’ permission, I am recording my latest class and posting the videos to YouTube. In this series of classes, the intent is to explore the history of Jewish thought by looking at individual rabbis or key Jewish thinkers – who they are, the important aspects of their teachings, and the historical period in which they lived. This first session we begin by looking at the general…

From the Diary of Kasdya (Keep out! Harriet, this means you! 😠)

My mother always told me I was an angel.

Okay, had to put my pen down for a minute, I was laughing so hard reading what I just wrote. I don’t mean that in some sappy, warm and fuzzy way. I mean like an actual, literal angel — beautiful, terrifying, fire and brimstone, the whole bit. She used to say that with our power anyone could see we were born to rule, but our cousins had chosen…

Midrash: That the Holy Blessed One wears a mask

That the Holy Blessed One practices social distancing, from where do we learn it (מנא לן)? As it is written (דכתיב): “The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they drew too close to the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come at will into the Shrine behind the curtain, in front of the ark cover, lest…

It's Tevet! Let's get lost in translation!

So as of yesterday we have officially passed over from the month of Kislev into the new month of Tevet, a month which features no holidays or festivals save for the tail end of Chanukah, but which does include a number of relatively minor fasts.

One of these fasts is the 8th of Tevet, an optional fast-day commemorating the date in 313 B.C.E. when the Torah was translated in to Greek at the…

Mixed Multitudes: The Firstborn Son

I should have felt resentful toward the Hebrews, for whose sake the curses of their God had befallen my people, but in fact all I felt that night as I lay in my bed waiting to die was an immense sense of relief. I remember thinking, My life is about to be over. After tonight, I will never have to lie to anyone about who I am again. Perhaps that in itself is a kind of mercy.

When I awoke the…

Mixed Multitudes: The Boy Next Door

The boy next door was about my own age. It’s funny, but I can’t seem to remember what his name was anymore. When we were small he would show up at our door every morning, politely asking if I would come out to play. I always did. His parents were Egyptian and mine were Hebrew, my parents slaves and his free, but that didn’t seem to matter… that is, until my brother Chayim was born. Nowadays when…