My friends, I know that news travels fast and bad news even faster. It would pain me to share todays’s news and even more so, that we are so close to Rosh Hashanah. Some of you may have already heard that Temple Beth Torah was defaced with anti-Semitic and hateful...
Judy and I just received our lovely and tasty Apples and Honey bag from Congregation Am HaYam. As I work at getting the Reeses Pieces before the grandkids get them, I truly want to say a big תודה רבה-Thanks very much!! To everyone who put the bags together and...
This tends to be a favorite time of year for me in many regards. We get the last heat-waves of the summer, as I write this today, it’s a balmy 108 degrees in the far west San Fernando Valley. But even as the heat beats down, August is winding...
This morning Judy and I are recounting and reliving the Installation program yesterday. I don’t have enough vocabulary in any language to share with you how very much I was and am touched by the ceremony, the program and everyone’s support. It was a program and ceremony I’ll remember and...
My friends, Living here in Southern California, all of us have experienced earthquakes, large and small. We know from our own experiences how very scary on a visceral level it is to have the very earth itself moving. We’ve seen the damage and devastation up close and would never...
My friends, It is not my nature to engage in discussion of American politics and elections in my role as rabbi. I firmly believe each person, each voter can and should make up their own minds. When it comes to matters of law and policy in America, there is a...
We’ve just passed the holiday of חג האביב-The Spring holiday, commonly called Passover or פסח. We observe at Passover the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt. But we also note that group leaving Egypt was a very long way from being unified, from feeling peoplehood, let alone nationhood. At...
My friends, The cooking and cleaning are done, getting ready to search for the chametz and preparing to burn it. Above all, it is the eve of the holiday of Passover, when we celebrate our leaving Egypt and going from darkness to light. As our fathers and mothers...
By the time this edition of the Migdalor is released, we will be just about to enter the space for the חג האביב-The Spring Holiday, of Passover. The planning and cleaning and cooking should all be done. We are prepared to welcome the holiday, welcome our guests and even the...
As we learned on Groundhog Day, our friend Punxsutawney Phil (the world famous weather predicting Groundhog), winter will continue for another 6 weeks. But in our Jewish world, we endure the cold, wind and rain and we have entered the month of Adar. Our expression from the Talmud, tractate Taanit...
