Theology, Technology and a bit of Music
Life is a pre-existing condition. Back in High School, I read Ovid’s great work of Greek mythology, The Illiad. I devoured the epic poem of Odysseus and his adventures with the pantheon of Greek gods. The stories are…
Earlier this summer, I had the privilege of working at our regional URJ camp, Camp Coleman. For one week I networked with colleagues, taught classes, tutored bar and bat mizvah students and led services. I also cheered…
Stop me if you've heard this one before. Michelangelo, an Israeli poet and a German photographer walk into Rosh Hashanah services ...
Back in the first century, Hillel was asked to distill all of Judaism into one sentence. A brilliant rabbi and scholar, Hillel thought about Mitzvot, theology, customs, history and culture and came up with the famous…
I remember walking out of my first orthodox service. I had lots of questions for my father – it was certainly a different experience than our classical Reform synagogue in South Florida. I remember being most intrigued…
It's time to get ready for the High Holidays. There's a story of a young rabbi that is furiously preparing for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. He goes to see the senior rabbi, feeling accomplished that he has assigned all…
Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad - Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Our second portion of Deuteronomy, V'ethanan, contains this statement of belief. It is perhaps the best-known verse in the…
If you'll indulge me in a bit of self-reference, I'm going to use my words tonight to talk about words. God speaks the world into existence. Adam names all of the animals, thereby asserting both domination and…
This Torah portion has something in common with the movie Shrek. Both feature a talking donkey. The portion is named after the Moabite king, Balak. Balak wanted to destroy the Israelites. Rather than defeat the…
Our Mitzvot are anything but simple. There are some commandments that we perform at a very specific time, such as the command to honor Shabbat. There are some that we observe in a specific place - there are rules and…