Friday December 12, 2025/22 Kislev 5786/Shabbat Vayeshev וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light (Genesis 1:3) Hevre/Friends, For the second time in less than three months, Andi and I will be celebrating the marriage of one of our children this weekend as her daughter, Tamar, weds her beloved - and ours - Eitan. Sunday afternoon’s wedding is taking place on the eve of Hanukkah which is Tamar’s Hebrew birthday, hence

Friday December 5, 2025/15 Kislev 5786/Shabbat Vayishlach הָסִ֜רוּ אֶת־אֱלֹהֵ֤י הַנֵּכָר֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּתֹֽכְכֶ֔ם וְהִטַּֽהֲר֔וּ וְהַֽחֲלִ֖יפוּ שִׂמְלֹֽתֵיכֶֽם: Remove the idols you took as spoil from the non-Jews in Shechem and that are now in your possession; ritually purify yourselves; and change your clothes. (Genesis 35:2) Hevre/Friends, Fall is always a special time in New York: crisp air and paths of burnt-orange leaves make for invigorating walks through Central Park; sm

Friday November 28, 2025/8 Kislev 5786/Shabbat Vayetze Hevre/Friends, Waking up the Friday morning after Thanksgiving to the smells of soup, roasting vegetables and chicken might make someone feel like they’re in the movie Groundhog Day, but for many of us it could not be more normal. After all, it’s Shabbat in a few hours and dinner has to be made. I mean, leftovers might only go so far, at least in our family! As per our weekly routine, Andi and I put on our favourite Frida

Friday November 21, 2025/Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5786/Shabbat Toldot וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יַעֲקֹ֜ב אֶל־אָבִ֗יו אָנֹכִי֙ עֵשָׂ֣ו בְּכֹרֶ֔ךָ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esav, your first-born.”  Hevre/Friends, Cringeworthy. That’s the only word for some of the Torah’s disturbing scenes of our ancestors behaving badly: Sarah insisting Abraham banish Hagar and Ishmael to the desert; God commanding Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and Abraham listening; and this week, at the insistence of his mot

Friday November 14, 2025/23 Cheshvan 5786/Shabbat Chaye Sarah In Memory of Dr. Stephen Diamond, z"l Hevre/Friends,   Yesterday I had the privilege of presiding over the funeral of a man I didn’t know but from whom I learned a great deal. He wasn’t a public figure or social activist, but he taught me valuable lessons about how to exercise my personal agency to help heal the rifts of our time.   Almost every one of the eulogies shared by Steve Diamond's family stressed that amo

Friday November 7, 2025/ 16 Cheshvan 5786/Shabbat Vayera Hevre/Friends,   Did I make the right decision? Should I have made another choice? What if I was wrong about him? What if I was right about him?   No, I’m not talking about the NYC mayoral election. I’m talking about Avraham in the Akedah/Binding of Isaac story from this week’s Torah portion. But on some level I actually am talking about the election.    Most of the classical commentators read details of the story such

Friday October 31, 2025/ 9 Cheshvan 5786/Shabbat Lech Lecha וַיִּשָּׂא־ל֣וֹט אֶת־עֵינָ֗יו וַיַּרְא֙ אֶת־כּל־כִּכַּ֣ר הַיַּרְדֵּ֔ן כִּ֥י כֻלָּ֖הּ מַשְׁקֶ֑ה - לִפְנֵ֣י ׀ שַׁחֵ֣ת יְהֹוָ֗ה אֶת־סְדֹם֙ וְאֶת־עֲמֹרָ֔ה  - כְּגַן־יְהֹוָה֙ כְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם בֹּאֲכָ֖ה צֹֽעַר׃ Lot looked about him and saw how well watered was the whole plain of the Jordan, all of it— this was before יהוה had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah —all the way to Zoar, like the garden of יהוה, like the land of E

Friday October 24, 2025/ 2 Cheshvan 5786/Shabbat Noah Hevre/Friends,   נֹ֗חַ אִ֥ישׁ צַדִּ֛יק תָּמִ֥ים הָיָ֖ה בְּדֹֽרֹתָ֑יו ׃ Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age Commentators throughout the ages have debated Noah’s merits based on the wording of this verse. Some say he was a righteous man despite the depravity of his generation; others say he only seemed righteous in comparison to the depravity of his generation. What might read like an incidental matter of b

Friday October 17, 2025/ 25 Tishrei 5786/Shabbat Bereishit Hevre/Friends,   Every year on Shabbat Bereishit we restart the cycle of Torah reading and immerse ourselves once more in Judaism’s foundational narratives. How many times have we read these stories? How many times have we grappled with their meaning? How many different insights and interpretations have we been taught? And yet we do it all over again year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation, p

I’m not sure what’s harder: confessing to the sins I’ve actually committed, or confessing to those I know I haven’t. And yet our...

Every life is shaped by two great love stories.  So writes one of my favorite philosophers, Alain de Botton, in the opening to his book,...

Friday October 10, 2025/ 18 Tishrei 5786/Sukkot Hevre/Friends, Could it really be that tonight will be the last Shabbat on which we...

Friday September 19, 2025/ 26 Elul 5785/Parshat Nitzavim Hevre/Friends, What motivates someone to make change? Is it a sense of urgency,...

Friday September 12, 2025/ 19 Elul 5785/Parshat Ki Tavo Hevre/Friends,   My close friend and master Jewish educator, the late Rachel...

Friday September 5, 2025/ 12 Elul 5785/Parshat Ki Tetze Hevre/Friends, Most of us think of the work of repentance as intensely private...

Friday August 29, 2025/ 5 Elul 5785/Parshat Shoftim Hevre/Friends, It’s hard to keep me indoors when the lake and the trails beckon,...

Friday August 22, 2025/ 28 Av 5785/Parshat Re'eh Hevre/Friends, Last night, 25 of us gathered to watch the documentary, “October 8”,...

Friday August 15, 2025/ 21 Av 5785/Parshat Ekev וְ הָיָ֣ה  עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן אֵ֤ת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה And if you do listen to...

Friday August 8, 2025/ 14 Av 5785/Parshat Va'Etchanan/Shabbat Nachamu/Tu B'Av Hevre/Friends, Nederland, Colorado, is a gateway town to...

Friday August 1, 2025/ 7 Av 5785/Parashat Devarim Hevre/Friends, It’s every person’s worst nightmare. Someone you love gets up in the...

Friday July 25, 2025/ 29 Tamuz 5785/Rosh Chodesh Av/Parashat Matot-Masei Hevre/Friends, It’s the end of the week, and the start of the...

Friday July 18, 2025/ 22 Tamuz 5785/Parashat Pinchas Hevre/Friends, I'm wiped.   The news coming from Israel as well as from other...

Friday July 11, 2025/ 15 Tamuz 5785/Parashat Balak Hevre/Friends, If you can get past the talking donkey in this week’s portion of Balak,...

Friday July 4, 2025/ 8 Tamuz 5785/Parashat Chukkat Hevre/Friends,  This is it. My most favourite weekend of the year. All of my four...