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Rabbi's Week in Review - 1/20/2025

01/20/2025 06:48:10 PM

Jan20

As we have celebrated the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this week, there has been a good deal of discussion about King’s legacy. He looked toward a future with hope, and we still are looking toward that future. 

I think of two quotes attributed to Dr. King. The first: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 1/13/2024

01/13/2025 05:27:12 PM

Jan13

I officiated at a wedding this past week in Boca Raton, Florida, a place known for the snowbirds it attracts, many from the Jewish community in the New York tri-state area. It would not have been my first choice, a place that has been referred to as “G-d’s waiting room.” While technically I could be considered to have reached retirement age, I still feel like my job as rabbi is relatively new, and I look forward to many years ahead of...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 1/6/2025

01/06/2025 06:21:26 PM

Jan6

Sometimes, without seeking a particular issue to address, one seems to come at me as something that is on many people’s minds. 

Lately, it has been the issue of immigration and what is to come of immigrant populations in the near future — in a conversation with the policy director at the most recent meeting of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City; a congregant who wanted to talk with me about what I see as the...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 12/30/2024

12/30/2024 04:32:19 PM

Dec30

My mother’s yahrzeit z”l occurred this past week. Actually, this is the 18th year of her yahrzeit — 18, of course, referencing the Hebrew word "chai," or "life." I believe we do give life to those loved ones who have died by how we honor memory. For my mother, it was the memory of her kindness; her quiet generosity, in which she always put others ahead of her own needs; and a somewhat hidden yet undeniable emotional...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 12/23/2024

12/23/2024 06:56:53 PM

Dec23

CBS News’ Sunday Morning this week presented reflections for the season from Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopol Diocese of Washington, D.C., and Rabbi Steve Leder of Los Angeles. Bishop Budde leaned into the message of Christmas and what she saw as a message of peace that was placed in our human world via Jesus. She cited verses from the New Testament. I found nothing at all inappropriate in her reflections, bringing a perspective...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 12/16/2024

12/16/2024 05:47:37 PM

Dec16

While waiting for a program to start, in which I was giving a D’var Torah, I had a conversation with someone whom I had the honor/pleasure of working with years ago in the Jewish community, someone I still admire. The conversation was centered on fighting antisemitism, and what the best approach is to successfully carry on that fight.

In this week’s blog, I am not elaborating on that fight. Rather, I want to relate how refreshing...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 12/9/2024

12/09/2024 04:12:26 PM

Dec9

I recently participated on a panel discussing both the administration of the death penalty in general and how Judaism treats the death penalty. Whatever information I imparted, I learned much more from the other three panelists.

I was particularly struck by the presentation of Donna Schneweis, who chairs the KCADP, the Kansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. She presented information on how the imposition has a...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 12/2/2024

12/02/2024 03:00:42 PM

Dec2

I recently read an article in The Atlantic, “A Guide for the Politically Homeless,” by Eliot A. Cohen. While I did not agree with every assertion made in the article (and maybe that is part of the point, that we can find points of agreement even when we have areas of disagreement), I found resonance with the overarching point of the piece. Cohen sees a way forward through what he describes as a coarse and brutal politics within an...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 11/25/2024

11/25/2024 03:36:02 PM

Nov25

As I write this, Fay and I are just getting back to the States after spending two weeks in Uganda. Our trip was arranged through the organization Global Villages Connect, a group that supports the Abayudaya, the People of Judah — a group of Ugandan Jewish communities that has been around for over a century. These communities (14 total, of which we visited with five) are, by and large, extremely poor, remote, rural subsistence...Read more...

Rabbi's Week in Review - 11/11/2024

11/11/2024 08:14:41 PM

Nov11

By the time you read this, I will be in a very different Jewish community and a very Jewish, Jewish community — the Abayudaya Jews in Uganda. I look forward to the stories of their approach to ritual, music and perseverance over a century of existence, at times under extreme threat.

I have been mostly looking forward to the opportunity to learn of their culture, much more than imposing ours on them. Certainly, much more to come....Read more...

Tue, August 19 2025 25 Av 5785