Hug a Tree
I cannot begin to express at this moment how much I love being Jewish. I just learned that in the …
Category Archives: blessings
Where Thanksgiving and Judaism Meet
Every year someone asks me whether Thanksgiving is a Jewish holiday. There are two completely opposite answers to this question, …
Curses, Blessings, and 9/11
Curses and blessings. The Torah offers them in the same breath — and so does life. Just when everything seems …
Telling Moses “We’re OK”
As a rabbi who writes a weekly essay, I’ve come to realize that I have much greater freedom since I …
Above My Pay Grade: Wrestling With God’s Plan
This weekend, I will lead Shabbat services at a synagogue for the first time in months. It’s a synagogue I …
Blessings
There is no commandment in the Torah to thank God for food before we eat. Which is a little strange, …
Peace
We use the word peace all the time, as if we know what it means. I’m not so sure. In …
The God I Believe In
The book of Leviticus ends with two lists – one of blessings, one of curses. The shorter list is the …
Judaism & Contradictions
My tradition loves seeming contradictions. The holiday of Sukkot is a perfect example. We call it a joyous time but …
What Does God Want?
“If…then” propositions tend to worry me. Something has to happen for something else to happen. It presupposes an outcome which …
