by Maayan Lev As a child, Sukkot was a very big holiday in my family. In fact, it may have been the biggest holiday of the year for us. This is because we had dinner in the sukkah together every night, usually inviting a different family to join us each...
What Am I Afraid Of?–Psalm 27 and the Use of the Month of Elul One of the ways that our tradition invites us to prepare for the High Holy Days is to recite and reflect upon Psalm 27 twice a day for the High Holy Day season, which leads into...
From the Rabbi’s Study Tishah B’Av to Rosh HaShanah: What Money Cannot Buy Business people once met for dinner some years ago and began to discuss money. One successful and aggressive business mogul made the statement that money can buy everything. In fact, he wrote out a check for...
Rabbi Sacks and the Rabbinical Assembly on the Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision Overturning Roe v. Wade Rabbi Sacks: Three Reasons Why I Worry about the U.S. Supreme Court Decision (delivered on Friday, July 1, 2022) From the time the news reports broke about an impending U.S....
Rabbi J.B. Sacks, teaches about the Conservative Jewish movement's history and views on Abortion. Abortion is allowed in Judaism, to protect the physical or emotional health of the mother. Watch and learn.
From the Rabbi’s Study The Passion in Compassion As a member of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust, Cantor Isaac Goodfriend[1] joined his colleagues in a tour of a number of concentration camps and other sites. During the tour he visited the Polish farmer who had hidden him and...
Another Tishah B’Av: On Jacob and Esau, Ukraine and Russia (delivered by Rabbi Sacks at a service for Ukraine on March 13, 2022)[1] To frame why we are here in a Jewish perspective, I would like to share a passage from the Jerusalem Talmud. The passage dates from well...
From the Rabbi’s Study Purim: Life Needs Farce and Fantasy The Scroll of Esther (M’gilat Ester) contains a melodramatic tale of court intrigue, not unlike what one might find in the Arabian Nights. The outlines of its story are well-known, but in reading the tale, questions abound. Why...
Dear Am HaYam Family, It is with heavy heart that we approach Shabbat, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We are concerned about the potential for this conflict to deepen. We are concerned about the potential for other countries to enter the conflict on one side of the other. We are...
From the Rabbi’s Study Let’s Place Our Bets Carefully The man sitting on the park bench facing the synagogue was a picture of dejection. His shabby clothes looked as if he had slept in them, and his tired face was covered by a heavy growth. Overcome by pity for...