“Rabbi,” the mother asked, “You officiate at so many Bar and Bat Mitzvah services each year. How are you still able to make each one feel special and the most important at the moment?” I smiled at the question, which I am asked at least a dozen times a year. Motioning her to step closer, …
Confirmation is a reaffirmation of all that Congregation Or Ami is about. I wish you could have been there. On Friday night, 7 Or Ami teenagers – Jessa Cameron, Libby Coufal, Nathan Fried, Ben Ginsburg, Dakota Keller, Marissa Meyer, and Peter Young – stood on our bimah to articulate those values and experiences which bind …
Seven Congregation Or Ami teenagers – Jessa Cameron, Libby Coufal, Nathan Fried, Ben Ginsburg, Dakota Keller, Marissa Meyer, and Peter Young – confirmed their connection to and their faith in Torah, the Jewish tradition, the Jewish people, and God. We asked each to answer questions arising out of the Jewish experiences, and then each student …
My son called from Krakow, Poland where he is participating in the March for the Living. One week witnessing the concentration camps in Poland, followed by one week in Israel celebrating the creative survival of the Jewish people. He recounted visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau, two of the worst concentration camps from the Nazi era. I …
Rabbi Donniel Hartman, President of Shalom Hartman Institute and Director of it’s Engaging Israel Project, blogs wisely about the essence of Judaism. We are a people first; religious faith and tradition secondarily. We learn this on Pesach, which he calls the “Independence Day of the Jewish People.” …this [peoplehood] identity precedes our religious faith: [just …
We celebrate the news (thank you Congregation Or Ami faculty member Patti Jo Wolfson for bringing this to my attention) that Hiram Bingham IV, the U.S. diplomat credited with saving more than 2,000 Jews and other refugees in France from the invading Nazis, has been immortalized as part of the U.S. Postal Service’s set of …
I joined more than 1150 rabbis from 49 states who signed a letter addressed particularly to the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches efforts to consider divestment from certain companies whose products are used by Israel. These churches will take up the issue at their upcoming conferences. If you agree, please share the letter with your Presbyterian …
Found up on the fridge. Placed there by wife. Original caption: Fine. Sit there and check your messages. Perhaps it will give you something to contribute to the conversation. Handwritten edit from husband: Fine. Sit there and check your messages. Perhaps it will make you as scintillating as ever.
I asked my rabbinic colleagues (on Facebook): Besides “from slavery to freedom” and “speak truth to power” and “stamp out injustice,” what poignant lessons from Pesach speak to you today? 12 Rabbinic Responses Were: Honoring our past while celebrating the future. A willingness to accept the obligation of inconveniencing ourselves for a week in order …
“Keep the politics off the bimah.” We hear this in the synagogue whenever a rabbi speaks on a topic nearing the intersection of Jewish values and public policy. While argued most vociferously by those who disagree with the rabbi’s message, the critique itself that “politics has no place on the bimah” is a decidedly false …
I cannot decide whose excitement was more infectious: the almost tangible joy emanating off the forty-nine 4th-6th graders attending Congregation Or Ami’s first ever retreat at Gindling Hilltop Camp, the pride felt by the eleven 8th and 9th grade Madrichim (teaching assistants) who led most of the programming, or the energetic passion of Rabbi Julia …
It sounds like the start of a good joke, except it really happened. Well, sort of. I’m the rabbi. There were really two priests. Of course, we were sitting in a Cathoic church, not a bar. Oh, and instead of drinking, We were church hopping. It was all part of my education on interfaith relations …
There was a firetruck in front of the Temple, when I arrived back from my early afternoon meeting. Two trucks, in fact. One had a huge ladder rising up to the top of the roof, right above our building. “Rabbi, There’s a Fire…” I got the call as I was driving back to work. “Rabbi, …
The Or Ami Center for Tikkun Olam (social justice) was created to foster the knowledge and commitment of young people to become social justice advocates. We stive to instill in them an awareness of our obligation as Jews. As Torah teaches, lo ta’amod al dam rei-acha – don’t stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds. …
I introduced Alex with just three sentences: This 24 year old man was just like you, a nice Jewish boy. I was at his Bar Mitzvah, celebrated his Confirmation and helped him get into college. Listen to his story, learn from it, and perhaps you won’t make the same mistakes as he did. I am …