From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

How can you make sure to have the most meaningful and impactful Passover? Is it about preparation? The extent to which you clean out every cabinet and kasher your kitchen? Is it about the Seder itself—the Haggadah you choose and the activities you plan for the Seder? In the spring of 2014, I was in my second year of rabbinical school and got a gig as a cruise-ship rabbi. Given that this was my fir...

Talk to any Israeli, talk to any American who has recently been to Israel, and the words one hears are: depressing, very concerning, unprecedented, I’m afraid. I don’t know how this ends.  How did we get here? Where does this story begin?  Last week, Rachel Korazim, our Israeli teacher of Israeli poetry, made a point that is so simple, so profound, and so important. The conflicts playing out in Is...

I am not proud of it, but one day while on a recent long flight, to make the time pass, I found myself reading a rom com, total beach reading. There were so many other worthier things I could have read. I could have read an analysis of the impasse on judicial reform in Israel. Or I could have done daf yomi, the study of a daily page of Talmud. Or with Passover coming up, I could have studied the H...

The impasse over judicial reform in Israel continues to be concerning and unresolved. Protests continue. Conversations have not resulted in resolution. Positions are hardening. The compromise which President Herzog implored both sides to work towards remains elusive. Talk to Israelis—their morale is low. They are troubled. “We hope we get there”—to Israel’s 75th. This Shabbat we are blessed to hav...

I recently heard a podcast featuring Andy Stanley--have I mentioned him before? He is a pastor in Atlanta--and his wife Sandra, and they were discussing a most compelling question: How do we parent our children so that when they grow up and grow out, they want to spend time with their parents, and with one another, even when they don’t have to? If this is our goal, our parenting north star, that s...

When I was in Jerusalem last week sitting shiva for our father, after folks gave their condolences and shared their memories, they would ask me for my take on Israel. The conversation was sobering, making me feel naïve and disconnected from the real Israel that is. Me: In Greater Jewish Boston, we are so excited to be marking Israel at 75. A big contingent from our shul is going to...

March 4, 2023

As a child, I reveled in the heroism of Mordechai. I admired him for his gumption, for the way he stood up to Haman and never betrayed his values--even when his very life was at stake. I was taught to see Mordechai as a capable and wise civil servant, as a mensch who took in his orphaned niece and loved her like his own, and as a visionary who empowered the people around him, most especially his n...

Will everything be OK? Will all the things that I am worrying about be OK? Will all the things you are worrying about be OK? Will all the things we are worrying about be OK? I would love to believe the premise of a children’s story by Anna Dewdney with an evocative title-- Everything Will be OK . The plot is that a little bunny worries about little things, like getting the wrong kind of sandwich f...

The mass murderer of 11 innocent people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh will go on trial in April. The Justice Department is seeking the death penalty . What do we think of that? Two questions present themselves. First, if we were to look for wisdom from Jewish sources , should the Tree of Life mass murderer be sentenced to life in prison, or the death penalty? One of th...

Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz and Alan Teperow as they discuss Alan's passion for painting.

This week, we are reading Parshat Mishpatim. This Torah portion is all about rules and regs. After the revelation, God spells out in minute detail what the people should do and how they should behave. It’s not a conversation, not open to interpretation, the laws are given without explanation and the people simply accept them. They say, na’aseh v’nishmah—we will do what God says and then we will se...

A 26-year old named Ilya Sosansky was the seventh victim of the terrorist attack in Jerusalem on January 27 in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood. Ilya Sosansky was a graduate of AMIT Technology High School. AMIT sent out an email describing the indescribable loss of this young man. Ilya Sosansky was a beloved, popular DJ. His friends described him as a young man filled with a joy for...

If there's one lesson of this coming Shabbat, it is that life is not a solo sport - we are better when we are together - all of us. That applies to leadership - Yitro teaches Moses to include others as leaders. That applies to family - Moses listens to Yitro, including him in decision making. And that applies to community - when our ancestors gathered at Sinai, they spoke together as one...

Often, we experience music in a passive way. In a synagogue setting, very few of us know where liturgical melodies come from and rarely do we have the time to consider the effect of any particular melody on our prayer experience. (Even when we do have the time and inclination, we often struggle to find words to articulate the impact of a melody on our emotional or psychospiritual experience.) This...

January 28, 2023

The law of unanticipated consequences. As Micah Goodman shares with Danny Gordis in this utterly fascinating conversation about Israel today (35 minutes and well worth it), conservative leaders are chastened and restrained by the law of unanticipated consequences. Since we never actually know what will ensue from our conduct, the wisest course is humility and restraint lest we unintentionally...

The great writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez once observed: “Everyone has three lives: a public life, a private life, and a secret life.” I learned of this quote in the forward to a fascinating book about secrets. Written by noted American Jewish author Letty Cottin Pogrebin, the book is entitled Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy. Pogrebin talks about how deeply held, and deeply embarrassing, secre...

“Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am the Lord. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God…I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…” But when Moses told this t...

January 14, 2023

How do we think and talk about Israel now as its new government (In Israel, a Hard-Right Agenda Gains Steam. Patrick Kingsley, NY Times, 1/11/23) takes power? Here are five options. Do not think and talk about Israel. It is too upsetting. It is too much. We have our hands full. There are synagogues and rabbis who do not talk about Israel because it is too divisive. Protest and/or bo...

January 7, 2022

We all want the best for our children. For many parents, this means affirming our children no matter what they do and normalizing their feelings and reactions in every moment. This school of “gentle parenting” teaches that the world is a tough place, but we as parents can strengthen them with our love and acceptance. Jacob’s parenting philosophy appears to be the opposite. He seems to believe that...

In November, a woman posted the following thread to Twitter: “Several guys moved in next door, students I guess. And I’ve gotten two confused DoorDash drivers for them in the last week, and their trash can was completely overflowing with pizza boxes. I don’t think they cook. I am feeling such a strange motherly urge to feed these boys.” A minute later, she posted that she had decided to bring over...

For the past few years, 5th grade has been my sweet spot teaching religious school.  To be honest, I think 10 is the perfect age.  They're just beginning to think of themselves as individuals, and just beginning to access abstract thought.  Because they’re still kids, they haven’t learned the teenage trick of looking bored and disconnected at all times.  They’ll squeal with del...