Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

As summer weeks go, this past one was unusually busy. A meeting with the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition was the start toward organizing the “Good Trouble Vigil” to honor the memory of civil rights leader John Lewis. In between that meeting and the actual vigil was a presentation on Judaism and social justice for the Faith Club, a group of Muslim, Jewish and Christian women, who came together a few years ago to learn and support one...Read more...

While on vacation last week, my work as a Fellow in the Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI) began in earnest. (This is the two-year program in which we seek to do, or really, in our case, continue major transformation work for our Jewish community — to set a different, more compelling and welcoming course for our Jewish future.) Over the next two years, I will, from time to time, be sharing my work in the program with my Kol Ami family and...Read more...

A D’var Torah for Parashat Balak

Responding to a request from a congregant, we have been studying the role of angels in Judaism. I was grateful for the suggestion, as I immediately knew the source for our studies, the book A Gathering of Angels by Morris B. Margolies – z”l. I grew up with Rabbi Margolies as my spiritual leader. To have the opportunity to do a deep dive into his most widely read work has been a source of great...Read more...

As I write this, I am watching the annual Kennedy Center Honors. In any year, I am more a fan of some honorees than others, yet I look forward to the show every year. I find it uplifting and life-affirming. I went to college a stone’s throw from the Kennedy Center, and the show always conjures up fond memories — of concerts with the National Symphony, and one of the great jazz concerts in my lifetime, the Milestone Jazzstars...Read more...

Last week seemed all about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (I could still say more.) Notwithstanding a ceasefire that seems to be holding, troubling unrest and violence remain in Israeli cities between Jews (right-wing Jewish extremists) and Israeli Arabs. The issues that were present before the latest round of rockets, bombs and violence have not gone away. 

Sometimes, though, we need to catch a break, in order to engage in...Read more...