Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

Two thoughts on this fourth of July week, one from the Torah portion and one from a friend. In our Torah portion, Parashat Chukat, we read of the very strange ceremony of the Parah Adumah - the Red Heiffer (spoiler alert, this is a favorite piece of Torah for me). If a Kohein (Priest) becomes ritually impure, returning the Kohein to a state of purity requires that a perfectly unblemished red heifer is sacrificed and its ashes used to...Read more...

A couple of thoughts as we experience another challenging week in our world.

The war that began this week between Israel and Iran scares me as it does all of us in our Jewish community.  It is yet another case of innocent civilians being put at risk by leaders who choose war over diplomacy. I think: how long will our Israeli brethren find air raid sirens and bomb shelters to be a part of everyday existence. I also wonder why our...Read more...

We had a full house to celebrate Shavuot this past Sunday evening with a traditional dairy meal and wonderful Torah study discussion.  Regardless of whatever sadness surrounds us at any given moment, the holidays happen when they happen (in the case of Shavuot on the 6th of Sivan). 

This is not to say that we dictate feelings that presumably go with the holidays. Our lives happen as they will regardless when our holidays...Read more...

Many of us seem to be struggling right now to balance challenges on the one hand -- our fearfulness with regard to the state of the world, and our country in it; how we can get involved to change things for the better -- with meeting immediate needs on the other -- allowing ourselves self-care, even moments of joy and celebration.

With a spoiler alert, I don’t have an answer or a tried and true approach to finding that balance. I...Read more...

This coming Thursday, May 15, at 7 PM, at St. Francis Xavier Church by Rockhurst University, there will be an interfaith service in support of immigrants and immigrant rights.  I have been asked to offer my reflections and a prayer.

Two things come to mind in anticipation of the service.  One is my own connection to immigrant rights, or really immigrant opportunities.  My paternal grandparent came to America in the...Read more...