While Standing (Six Feet Apart) on One Foot Erev Pesach - April 8, 2020 Why is this night different than any other night? When we ask that simple question, the answer this year can be either, 'Where do I begin?' or 'Oy! Where have you been?!' No one, and I mean no one, [...]
While Standing (Six Feet Apart) on One Food Erev Shabbat, April 3, 2020 The Israeli Chief Rabbinate just issued a halachic ruling about Zooming on Pesach. It can be distilled to one word: forbidden. But, of course. Their logic, though, is fundamentally correct. Since no lives are endangered if you don't Zoom [...]
While Standing (Six Feet Apart) on One Foot April 2, 2020 I am frustrated and angry. There is a well-known Hassidic tale that goes like this: 'What will it be like in the world to come? It is said that evildoers would be punished by not being able to bend their arms. The chasid queried [...]
I just read that my go-to coffee place in Canada, Tim Horton's, is doing something they have never done: they are experimenting with the plant-based Beyond Meat product for their sausage. This means that, for the first time ever, a vegetarian sausage or patty that is supposed to look and taste and feel exactly like [...]
When I woke up this morning, I was hit by the news of the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand and was revolted. Forty-nine people dead so far, scores more injured and it would be of little surprise if more died from their injuries. And, from all accounts, it appears that the one suspect we know [...]
Passover is an intriguing holiday. According to Pirke Avot, the collection of pithy sayings collected by the Talmud, Shmuel HaKatan (Samuel Junior) once said that ‘When an enemy falls, be not glad and when one stumbles, let not your heart be joyous.’ This seems to be the very antithesis of human nature. After all, when [...]
One of the learnings my students take with them is just how adaptable Judaism is. Nothing is static. Even in the 'Orthodox' world Jewish tradition is always evolving. A good example are the halachot - Jewish laws - surrounding Shabbat (or any holiday for that matter). The mitzvah to celebrate Shabbat is riddled throughout the [...]
There is the strangest line in this Torah portion that, for all intents and purposes, goes completely unnoticed. After describing the Jacob's quarrel with Esau, Isaac's settling in Gerar, the digging of wells by Isaac's servants and a peace agreement with Abimelech, the text throws in a line that comes out of nowhere: [...]
The profoundly horrific events of Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life synagogue this past Shabbat has given us all pause to consider what it means to be Jewish in America. There are the statistics that show quite clearly how contemporary American society finds it all too easy to attack Jews. It reminds me of something [...]