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Rabbi's Week in Review - 8/5/2024

08/05/2024 12:35:04 PM

Aug5

An article in The New Yorker by Corey Robin explores the times in our history when Jews have been relatively safe and times when we have been under a greater threat of antisemitism. His overarching observation is that Jews have done better under democracies, wherein we did not need specific laws for our protection and we focused our engagement in society more on how we protected other marginalized communities rather than ourselves.

By...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 7/29/2024

07/29/2024 01:47:16 PM

Jul29

We’ve entered into a three-week period of mourning on the Jewish calendar that culminates on Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av. It is the only other major fast day on the calendar other than Yom Kippur. The ninth of Av is when, according to tradition, both the first and second Temples were destroyed. It is a day of great sadness.

Two things to think about. In commemorating the tragedies that we have suffered throughout...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 7/23/2024

07/23/2024 10:36:19 AM

Jul23

I had a great blog just about to go in the hopper this week. But in our present environment, decades of history seem to be compacted into weekly occurrences that change the calculus and, at the very least, make previous intended missives if not irrelevant, at least beside the point.

With that in mind, I will simply say this: Depending on where you sit within the political spectrum, the range of emotions seems to lean negative —...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 7/15/2024

07/15/2024 12:53:27 PM

Jul15

In a series of events, from a spate of troubling rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court to the debate to this past weekend’s horrific shooting (the political violence at the Trump rally — one person dead, two others in critical condition as I write this), against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza with 116 hostages still not home, I have to admit that I am overwhelmed, as I feel many in our community and our country are...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 7/8/2024

07/08/2024 03:45:52 PM

Jul8

A quick shout-out to last week’s Fourth of July observance. It was good to spend some time with family and friends, yet it seemed particularly lackluster this year. A guess that the issue is something to the effect of, what are we celebrating? Notwithstanding that we seem to have lost the meaning of the day for many years now, this July Fourth seemed different — a malaise of sorts, a certain hopelessness about the state of our...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 7/1/2024

07/01/2024 04:59:59 PM

Jul1

As I write this, I’m hearing the announcement from the U.S. Supreme Court that, unlike everyone else in our country, the president of the United States is above the law. This ends a term of the court in which they have abrogated the long-held Chevron Doctrine — finding that federal judges, rather than administrators who are the top experts in their fields, are better positioned to make decisions about our dangerously climate-challenged...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 6/24/2024

06/24/2024 03:45:41 PM

Jun24

Fay and I attended the concert of our Kansas City Symphony this past weekend. It not only was the last concert of the season but it also was the final concert of artistic director/conductor Michael Stern. He leaves the symphony after a 19-year tenure.  

I, as I am sure many, have reflected on the changes and growth of our symphony over that period of time, beginning when the symphony was still playing in the old Lyric Opera...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 6/17/2024

06/17/2024 02:21:24 PM

Jun17

Fay and I finished the most recent season of “Bridgerton,” one of Shonda Rhimes’ many acclaimed television creations. The setting for the series is early 19th-century London, a time and place of greater racial equality, due at least in part to the marriage of then King George II to Queen Charlotte, of Black Portuguese descent. That it facilitates many of the characters being both Black and of nobility is a welcome piece of the...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 6/10/2024

06/10/2024 12:59:44 PM

Jun10

We were filled with gratitude this past week at the news that four of the hostages taken on October 7 by Hamas were rescued. We continue to pray for the release of the remaining hostages still held captive by Hamas.

Yet we cannot rejoice, as the rescue came at the expense of (at the time of this writing) 274 Palestinian lives and many more injured. After being at war for so many months, it seems that the terrible status quo...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 6/3/2024

06/03/2024 02:40:47 PM

Jun3

The news of Donald Trump’s conviction on all 34 felony counts brought against him is too big to ignore, and I couldn’t if I wanted to. Following are some observations, particularly in response to the subsequent numerous attacks by Trump sycophants on our judicial system and our democracy.

Trump was not indicted by President Joe Biden, the Biden administration or the DOJ. He was indicted by New York citizens serving on a grand jury...Read more...

Tue, October 15 2024 13 Tishrei 5785