We are on the plane, about 45 minutes outside of Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv/Yafo. Most of us caught but a few hours of sleep: some were excited, some overtired, some couldn’t find a place to put our legs as we were sardined into tiny seats. We just began flying over the Mediterranean Sea. …
Greeting History and Holiness in Israel: Or Ami’s First Family Trip to the Holy Land
On Tuesday, 39 Or Ami members leave for a spiritual aliyah (aliyah or ascent, from ayin-lamed-hey meaning to rise up) to our State of Israel, Judaism’s spiritual center. Our group, ranging in age from 5 years old to 83, has grown in numbers since the original trip was postponed due to the war on Israel’s …
SRO Chanukah (Standing Room Only!)
They came from all over last night to celebrate the first night of Chanukah at Or Ami. Even staying within the room’s limits, we kept setting up chairs and more chairs, and then moved back the bimah and put the table with the candles in front of the ark, and set up more chairs, and …
Sowing Seeds of Anger
On Thursday, I sat in the synagogue at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and heard a preacher captivate the entire community with a beautifully crafted, exquisitely presented sermon on anger. I sat transfixed, thinking she was talking to ME, even as (I learned later) others thought she was talking to THEM. This young darshan …
Institute for Jewish Spirituality Transformed Me Spiritually
I just heard that the Institute for Jewish Spirituality is soon offering its fourth program for rabbis beginning July 2007. I am a graduate of the third cohort of rabbis and want to confess that this program has been the highlight of my personal and professional life in recent years. Simply stated, attending the retreat …
Resurrecting Jewish Prejucide Shames American Jewish History
Dennis Prager is at it again misguidedly mixing his politics with his misreading of our Jewish faith to declare that Representative Keith Ellison’s request to take his oath of office on the Koran is un-American, intellectually dishonest, and comparable to taking an oath upon Hitler’s Mein Kampf. He also suggests that it is not good …
Darfur: Is This Another Case Where the World Sits Idly By?
I remain worried and saddened that we seem impotent to address the continuing genocidal violence that alights the Sudan and now neighboring Chad and other countries. Peace accords are signed; violations begin immediately. The website OurPledge.org, Americans Against the Darfur Genocide, headlines with: Darfur Humanitarian Situation Bleakest Ever; Khartoum Continues to Reject Deployment of Multinational …
Have You Ever Experienced Holiness?
I am captivated by our Biblical ancestor Jacob’s sudden connection with holiness. In the middle of nowhere, he experienced the Holy One. At a moment when he least expected it, he touched the Sacred. What was this all about? Where was this place?My friend, Rabbi Martin S. Lawson, in a Torah commentary, Our Place And …
Are Bagels Jewish Food? Legend Has It…
I always wondered what makes bagels Jewish. In Haaretz, Doram Gaunt writes Getting a Rise Out of Bagels: When people talk about Jewish food they think of tcholent, kneidlach or gefilte fish, but the Jewish food that has won the greatest popularity among non-Jews in the world is in fact one that many don’t even …
Thanksgiving Vision: Spiritual Lessons Learned during LASIK Surgery
A few days before Thanksgiving, almost 35 years to the day that the world first went blurry for me, I decided to get LASIK surgery. The steady hand of master ophthalmologist Dr. Jonathan Davidorf of the Davidorf Eye Group in West Hills performed LASIK surgery on my eyes, and in the process gave me something …
Can There Be Holiness (and a Reason for Thankfulness) in the Midst of Suffering?
It’s so moving in this week’s parasha (Torah portion) Toledot, when Rebecca, in the midst of her pregnancy, cries out to God. We read in Torah: But the children struggled in her womb, and Rebecca cried out, ‘Im ken lama zeh anokhi – If so, why do I exist?’ She went to inquire of the …
People Who Inspire Me: Two HUC Interns Walking the Breast Cancer 3-Day
In between their overwhelming studies and their huge responsibilities running our Mishpacha Family Alternative Learning program, two HUC interns, Rebecca Saliman and Rachel Isaacson, walked the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk in San Diego to support the Susan B. Komen’s foundation. They were part of a 15 member team of students and friends from Hebrew Union …
Israel Gets It Right on Gay Marriage. Well, Partially.
Our Jewish homeland Israel got it right, partially, in terms of gay marriage when its High Court of Justice (“Supreme Court”) ruled six to one that five gay couples wedded outside of Israel can be registered as married couples. As Yuval Yoaz reports on Haaretz’s website: A sweeping majority of six justices to one ruled …
Jewish Journal Praises ABC’s The Nine “Shabbat Dinner” Episode
Following our lead, the Jewish Journal’s Shoshana Lewin published an article, Will Shabbat dinner drama hold ‘Nine’ viewers captive?, on the upcoming Shabbat Dinner focused episode of The Nine. “Rabbi Kates and his wife, Sheryl, recently invited their doctor-son and his girlfriend of two years to Shabbat dinner. Nothing too out of the ordinary there …
ABC’s The Nine: Jewish Character with Functional Jewish Family
The Nine: Seek Solace and Support with Family on Shabbat On Friday, I had the opportunity to view an advanced copy of this week’s episode of The Nine, ABC’s hit show about nine strangers who end up in a bank robbery that has gone terribly wrong. SWAT storms the bank, rescuing the hostages and capturing …