Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

This past week I was a speaker at the annual dinner of the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA).  I and others from our Jewish community were welcome in the space, and I felt comfortable in describing my Jewish values that brought me into that space. 

One of those values described was Pikuach Nefesh - the sanctity of human life.  We hold this up as the highest of values.  Our Mishnah says simply that if...Read more...

This past week, I experienced one of the most emotional encounters during my rabbinate. I participated in a Clergy Convening in Minneapolis to support the extraordinary citizens of Minnesota in a general strike day last Friday. The call was for people to come together—to not work, to not attend school, and to not shop. Instead, they would gather in a unified protest demanding “ICE Out of Minnesota.” The demand at that point in time was...Read more...

To grossly understate it, last week was a terrible week in our country. Last Wednesday, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good. You can look at any of the recordings of this horrific tragedy. However, amongst the truths are that: ICE agents acted contrary to procedure and training at every turn; ICE’s jurisdiction is limited to, with probable cause and/or a valid warrant to arrest those who are actually in our country illegally;...Read more...

This week we complete the Book of Bereishit/Genesis.  It is the culmination of what is essentially the story of a single family.  It is a family that in modern parlance we would categorize as dysfunctional. Yet, as Ellen Davis describes this dynamic in her book, Opening Israel’s Scriptures, “G-d works repeatedly through badly damaged relationships, opening up new possibilities for the restoration of harmony among the...Read more...

A strange and somewhat incongruous intersection this past weekend of a time of joy, and the tragic and difficult. The joy was contained in our Kol Ami Erev Shabbat service, and my great nephew’s Bar Mitzvah Shabbat morning.

Erev Shabbat was not one of our more well attended services. I’m not too disappointed; the music was still moving and beautiful, and I am always grateful and appreciative of how folks here at Kol Ami...Read more...