My friend, in Judaism we are commanded to ‘remember’. Remembrance is a major focus of who we are and how we recall where we came from. Today is the day in 1945 that Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army from the Nazis. When I took part in March of...
My friends, I wanted to share with you all the Board of Rabbis statement on the arson in Mississippi. I am as upset and angry about this crime as I am sure you are too. For me the message is, we must stay alert, we must ’see something/say something’. We...
Each of our Shabbat’s and holidays together, we have paused our service and recited the prayer “ahainu” (Our Brothers). A simple prayer asking G1d to free those held captive and let that release come soon. We’ve all seen or heard the news of a ceasefire in Gaza. And with that...
My friends, Like everyone, I am beyond saddened and devastated by the news from the Annunciation Catholic School and Church in Minneapolis that reached us yesterday. At a time when we as Jews are entering the month of Elul and prepping for the High Holidays, news of yet another mass...
As I sit down to write my article for the bulletin, I am realizing that this will be the last time I write to you as your rabbi. As I take my leave, I’d like to do one more teaching if I may. The rabbis tell us that whenever two...
Ahhhhhhh. We can finally take a deep breath. The holidays are behind us. We came through them a little wiser, a little more introspective (and maybe a little heavier). In the rush of activity with the holidays, with all of the havoc it played on our schedules, we might not...
This has been a rough year for the Jewish people. After seeing something like this, it gives us pause to wonder what will become of the human race. It makes us worry for the world we will leave for our children and their children after them. There is a rabbinic...
Not “Goodbye” but “Be Seeing You” My dear Am HaYam Family, Our tradition teaches: kol hat-cha-lot kashot, “all beginnings are difficult.” This phrase has been something that many speakers, ancient and modern, religious or secular, have used. I myself have said it many times. But as I prepare to end...
Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem and Israel On Shabbat and holy days, our Sephardic and Mizrachi sisters and brothers recite Psalm 122, a late Psalm, in which holy day pilgrims in Jerusalem reflect on what it might have been like for pilgrims of prior eras to be in Jerusalem....
Dear Am HaYam family, I returned home last Sunday from a family simcha, and was under the weather. I am still recovering, but wanted to send you another note before Shabbat (It is Thursday, 10/19). I understand the Israel Solidarity Gathering that was hosted at Temple Beth Torah, and which...
