Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

Juxtaposing the upcoming Yom Kippur observance with all the tumult and negativity of our country over the past week, my focus is in the response to the tumult and negativity. Without dwelling on the details suffice it to say that everyday Americans responded; took action to effectuate change.  

We can assert that holding on to hope leads to action to change hope into reality. We can also say that, only when we take...Read more...

This week’s Torah portion contains a favorite lesson.  We read in Devarim/Deuteronomy 26:5-9 what is essentially our story - a story which is the most succinct reading of the Passover story.  What is most important is what precedes these verses, and the verse that follows. In 26:1-4, we bring the first fruits offering to the Kohein - to the high priest who makes the offering on our behalf. After, we read “our story” in...Read more...

This coming Monday we celebrate Labor Day. I think about the long history of Jewish involvement with the worker movement, the formation of unions in order to gain what we now take for granted as basic rights for workers. Yet these rights are at risk, and the fight for workers to make a living wage, have access to quality healthcare that should be everyone’s right, and just to have time with family without the need to hold down multiple...Read more...

Most everyone knows by now of the power grab going on in Texas, gerrymandering congressional districts to cheat Black and Brown predominant districts out of representation; a direct threat to the democratic process.  We now know that Missouri is the next target, the Missouri governor and legislature seeking to gerrymander the person I and the majority of people in this Kansas City predominant district voted for, Congressman Emanuel...Read more...

As I write this week’s blog, it has been 667 days since the brutal attack on Israelis at a kibbutz near the Gaza border and at a music festival. About 1,200 were killed. Of the hostages taken, it is estimated that 50 are still held by Hamas, with 27 of those dead. Gaza is in rubble, with virtually every hospital, school, university, and mosque destroyed. Approximately 60,000 Palestinians have been killed; of those, about 20,000 were...Read more...