February 9, 2008 If we had just relied on the experts, and if they had been right, this coming Tuesday President Bush would be welcoming the members of the New England Patriots to the White House to celebrate their victory in last Sunday’s Super Bowl. But as so often happens in sports and in …
When I was leading the services for our religious school, a child raised her hand and told me that her parents had told her that Jews constitute less than one percent of the world’s population. She told me she did not believe her parents since it seemed that there were a lot more Jews in …
I happened to be wearing my kippah recently when I was in a shopping mall. A young girl working at one of the cart-like booths in the mall approached and asked me if I speak Hebrew. I told her I did but did not have any time to speak with her about whatever product it …
I was recently asked to officiate at the graveside internment of an elderly Jewish woman who had been married to a non-Jew for over 65 years. Living in a remote area far away from the Jewish community, her children had not been raised as Jews. I knew I would not be able to say …
Yizkor September 22, 2007 In the early 1970’s, as the Director of State Affairs for the student government of the University of Maryland, I was the liaison and representative of the 30,000 students at the University of Maryland to the Maryland State Government. For a little over three years, I frequently testified before the …
Yom Kippur September 22, 2007 Have you ever noticed that when a fellow Jew tells a joke we will laugh, but when that same joke is told by a non-Jew we get upset. Or perhaps when the same joke is told, but in mixed company, in the presence of gentiles we might get a …
Kol Nidre September 21, 2008 On some level part of what makes the High Holidays so powerful is that it offers us the opportunity to connect to congregants we have not seen, to our tradition, to our liturgy, and to our family. While this is what pulls us here, the truth is that none …
Rosh Hashana September 14, 2007 Our tradition views living modestly, within our means as a virtue, and gives us the tools to follow this approach in death as well as in life. Repulsed by the excesses and extravagant funerals of the wealthy, Rabban Gamliel decreed in the second century that he be buried in …
Rosh Hashana September 13, 2007 A few weeks ago I had the extraordinary experience of officiating at the marriage of my only daughter, something I have dreamed of doing ever since she was a little girl. From the very first time I ever married a couple and just about every time since I have …
Yom Kippur October 2, 2006 The recent revelation that Senator George Allen is apparently a “landsman” confirms something I have long believed: The whole world is Jewish. He now joins the ranks of such other well-known prominent gentiles who did not know they were “M.O.T’s” (members of the tribe) as Wesley Clark, Madeline …
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