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2 min read
Joy and Mourning
Friday March 14, 2025/14 Adar 5785/Purim Parashat Ki Tisa Hevre/Friends, As Shabbat arrives, the conclusion to the week of shiva for...


3 min read
Picture This
Friday March 8, 2025/7 Adar 5785/Shabbat Zachor Parashat Tetzave Hevre/Friends, Yesterday Andi and I had the sweetest pleasure of...


3 min read
Where do you do Jewish?
Friday February 28, 2025/30 Sh'vat 5785/Rosh Chodesh Adar Parashat Terumah Friends/Hevre, Of the many different names for God imagined...


3 min read
Friends in all kinds of places
Friday February 14, 2025/16 Sh'vat 5785 Parashat Yitro Friends/Hevre, Driving back to New York from Montreal this past Tuesday I did...


3 min read
Don't Just Pray. Do Something.
Friday February 7, 2025/9 Sh'vat 5785 Parashat B'Shalach/Shabbat Shirah Friends/Hevre, It’s a tense moment when this week’s portion,...


3 min read
Spiritual Alchemy
Friday January 31, 2025/2 Sh'vat 5785 Parashat Bo Friends/Hevre, Yesterday we welcomed the new month of Sh'vat during which we'll mark...


3 min read
These are the names...
Friday January 24, 2025/24 Tevet 5785 Parashat Vaera Friends/Hevre, Emily Damari. Romi Gonen. Doron Steinbrecher. Names seared into our...


3 min read
And the bush was not consumed...
Friday January 17, 2025/17 Tevet 5785 Parashat Shemot Friends/Hevre, Could it really be happening? Could the hostages finally be coming...


4 min read
“Be whomever you will be, and may you be blessed in all you become.”
Friday January 10, 2025/10 Tevet 5785 Parashat Vayechi Hevre/Friends, In this week’s final portion of the Book of Genesis, as Jacob nears...


4 min read
The First Light is the Brightest
Friday December 27, 2024/26 Kislev 5785 Parashat Miketz/Shabbat Hanukkah Hevre/Friends, On the first night of Hanukkah about 75...

3 min read
How do you know when it's morning?
Friday December 20, 2024/19 Kislev 5785 Parashat Vayeshev וַיֹּ֕אמֶר-- אֶת־אַחַ֖י אָנֹכִ֣י מְבַקֵּ֑שׁ [J oseph] answered, I am looking...


2 min read
"Let it snow, let your winter dreams grow." (from Winter Dreams)
Friday December 13, 2024/12 Kislev 5785 Parashat Vayetze Hevre/Friends, This time next week Andi and I will be back in the Laurentians...


5 min read
Leaving Home to Come Home
Friday December 6, 2024/5 Kislev 5785 Parashat Vayetze Hevre/Friends, When people ask about my experience growing up in the Orthodox...


4 min read
Continuity is about more than replication
Friday November 22, 2024/21 H eshvan 5785 Parashat Chaye Sarah Hevre/Friends, The most dramatic story in parashat Chaye Sarah is the one...


2 min read
My Gratitude Teacher
It sounds so simple: be grateful for all we have. And yet, there are times when it’s just really hard to feel it.


3 min read
My daughter, My Teacher
Yesterday over coffee after a grueling exercise class, I got a loving but firm lecture from my daughter (when did those tables turn?).

3 min read
Broken-Hearted Politics
Friday November 8, 2024/7 H eshvan 5785 Parashat Lech Lecha Hevre/Friends, In his 2005 essay on holding together the tensions of...


14 min read
Yom Kippur 2024: Not Knowing
It’s 4:35 in the morning and I’m lying awake waiting to die. Not that there’s anything wrong with me. Other than the fact I’m convinced...


3 min read
Maybe Politics Should Take a Page Out of Religion
Friday November 1, 2024/Rosh Chodesh H eshvan Parashat Noa h Hevre/Friends, This past Wednesday in my Contemporary Halakhah (Jewish Law)...


16 min read
Rosh Hashanah 2024: Why?
My mother is 86 years old. She was raised in a non-observant, secular Jewish home just a few blocks from here. As a young adult, she felt...


13 min read
Rosh Hashanah 2024: Power & Vulnerability
Here’s the good news: I’m not going to preach to you today. Here’s the bad news: I’m still going to deliver a sermon. What I’m actually...


8 min read
Leaving Home to Come Home
When people ask about my experience growing up in the Orthodox community and making my way to the Conservative rabbinate, I often hear...


13 min read
Living a Forgiving Life
How many times have you been out to dinner with friends and someone looks at you and your spouse or your partner and asks: “ So, how did...


13 min read
Mirror Images of the Soul
V’asu li mikdash v’shakhanti betokham. Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. And with thanksgiving, I’ll be...
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