A widely cited tradition (Rosh Hashanah 16b) teaches that God opens three books on Rosh Hashanah. In one, the truly righteous are immediately inscribed for life. The thoroughly wicked are immediately condemned. Individuals of a...
Chol Ha-Moed Succot and Chol Ha-Moed Pesach have a great deal in common. On these intermediate Festival days, we recite Hallel, Musaf, and Ya-aleh V’Yavo. In both intermediate periods, Holiday work restrictions are relaxed. There...
This Shabbat, I will be serving my congregation as Torah Reader. I have taken on this liturgical role in memory of my mother, whose 35th Yahrzeit is this Shabbat. The Torah Reading is Parshat Ha’azinu...
The Eve of Rosh Hashanah falling on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on America represents a stirring confluence of events. What special meaning should we embrace as we begin the Days...
Richard Tucker, born 113 years ago today, was both a gifted Cantor and, over three decades, the New York Metropolitan Opera Company’s leading American tenor. While starring at the Met, he continued to serve as...
President John F. Kennedy, a former naval officer and life-long sailing enthusiast, kept a plaque on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office: “O God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is...
The Prophet Haggai received his divine call “on the first day of the sixth month” – that is, on Rosh Chodesh Elul, observed today. Haggai was to convey to the People Israel that the time...
Seventy years ago today – on August 7, 1956 – the Boston Red Sox fined the iconic Ted Williams $5000 for spitting at Boston fans in a fit of anger. Jewish tradition and morality view...
Honi Ha-Me’agel was a celebrated miracle worker of the First Century. “Ha-Me’agel” is widely understood to mean “The Circle Maker” – in reference to an incident (Ta’anit 23a) when, in a time of drought, Honi...
Parshat Va-etchanan, read this Shabbat, revisits the Ten Commandments, carved into stone and delivered to our Israelite forebears at Mount Sinai. Those stone Tablets are almost universally imagined today – based on medieval and modern...
