Elul

July 29, 2020

Pitchers and Catchers, Candles and Circles, Rivers and Apples: How Rituals Will Really Help Us Approach This New Year

This is almost too good to be true: the beginning of the month of Av in the Jewish calendar this year coincided with opening day for Major League Baseball. Usually around this time of year I show you this T-shirt based on an observation by Rabbi Morris Allen at my parents’ shul about the absolute… Continue reading

Calendar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Devarim, Elul, High Holidays, Holidays, Parashat Hashavua, Prayer, Ritual, Rosh Hashanah, Simchat Torah, Spirituality, Sukkot, Teshuvah, Torah, USA, Yamim Noraim, Yom Kippur
September 22, 2019

5 Reasons To Take Your Kid Out of School for the High Holy Days

It is not easy to take a day off of school or work for the High Holy Days. As school pressures have become more demanding, even at younger ages, the decision about bringing children to services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur on a school day might be more difficult for a parent than ever… Continue reading

9/11, Antisemitism, Calendar, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Elul, Ethics, Foregiveness, High Holidays, Holidays, Inclusion, Jewish Education, Rosh Hashanah, Spirituality, Teens, Temple Beth Abraham, USA, Yamim Noraim, Yom Kippur, Youth
August 10, 2018

The Elul Love Your Neighbor Study Challenge

Dear Friends: This Shabbat is the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, the new moon marking one month before Rosh Hashanah. I want to invite all of you into a challenge with me: the Elul Love Your Neighbor Study Challenge. Part of the process of teshuvah (returning, redirecting ourselves) is studying what the Torah says about relationships between people and… Continue reading

Calendar, Current Affairs, Elul, Ethics, High Holidays, Holidays, Justice, Kedoshim, Middot, Rabbi, Rosh Hashanah, Soul, Study, Theology, Tikkun Olam, Tzedakah, Tzedek, USA, Yamim Noraim, Yom Kippur
September 1, 2017

Ki Tetze — Learning from a Vigil at ICE

These are fairly unprocessed reflections, on a day when I went up to the Federal office building in Manchester, NH, to be part of an interfaith prayer vigil. Today, as on many days, people are being summoned to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to show they have plane tickets to leave the country, or they… Continue reading

Community Relations, Current Affairs, Elul, Freedom, Holocaust, Inclusion, Ki Tetze, Leadership, Peace, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA
September 19, 2016

Tech Tashlich

Tashlich (pronounced tash-leech, with the Hebrew-sound 'ch' at the end) is the ceremony of throwing bread into a river on Rosh Hashanah, symbolically washing away our wrongs and bad habits. "Tech Tashlich" is an annual practice of taking one day in the month before Rosh Hashanah to focus specifically on technology in our lives. What… Continue reading

Calendar, Elul, High Holidays, Holidays, Middot, Rosh Hashanah, Shabbat, Spirituality, Television, Teshuvah, Yamim Noraim
September 12, 2016

How To Be Judgmental

This was my D'var Torah in services on Sept. 10, 2016, Parashat Shoftim. On my first Rosh Hashanah here, I recounted a small vignette that happened to me, that happened in me, when we were living in an apartment in Queens more than ten years ago. I was walking out the basement exit, near the… Continue reading

Elul, Ethics, Foregiveness, High Holidays, Holidays, Patience, Rosh Hashanah, Shoftim, Spirituality, Yom Kippur
September 12, 2016

5 Big Ideas for the High Holy Days

5 core concepts, 5 interpretations of the Shofar, 18 minutes. Watch, or listen/download audio here. Continue reading

Elul, Foregiveness, High Holidays, Holidays, Prayer, Soul, Spirituality, Teshuvah, Yom Kippur
September 6, 2016

The Art of Apology: Lena Dunham

Over the weekend in the world of celebrity, actor and writer Lena Dunham generated a stir over an interview in which she commented on being seated at an event next to athlete Odell Beckham Jr. Ms. Dunham noticed Mr. Beckham on his cellphone, and she said that she imagined he was avoiding her because of her… Continue reading

Calendar, Elul, Ethics, Gossip, High Holidays, Holidays, Lashon Hara, Rosh Hashanah, Teshuvah, Yom Kippur
September 5, 2016

What Baseball Can Teach Us About the High Holy Days

This was my Dvar Torah last Shabbat, Sept. 3, 2016. On the final day of the 1949 baseball season, George Kell of Detroit edged out Ted Williams of the Red Sox for the American League batting title. Both of them are credited in the records as batting .343, which means that for every ten times… Continue reading

Elul, Foregiveness, High Holidays, Holidays, Parashat Hashavua, Re’eh
September 12, 2014

How About a Fun Elul Film This Saturday Night?

Looking for something to watch on a Saturday night in the month of Elul? At 7:43 PM find some grape juice/wine, a candle, and spices, say or listen to the Havdalah blessings, then settle in for a movie. Here are some of my favorites for the season, pure Hollywood. Suggest your own by posting in the comments… Continue reading

Elul, Film, High Holidays, Movies, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur
August 23, 2013

Before the Throne

This is the "From the Bimah" column I wrote for the Jewish Reporter's September 2013 issue before the High Holy Days. In the Jewish spiritual vocabulary, the word “king” is one of the most difficult. All the important spiritual words are difficult – but melech, “king”, is particularly challenging. Yet some of the most memorable… Continue reading

Elul, High Holidays, Holidays, Rosh Hashanah, Spirituality, Theology, Yom Kippur
August 17, 2012

Parashat Re’eh: Getting Ready for the Election

This week I write with a particular awareness of the time of year. It's Rosh Chodesh Elul, the start of the month leading into Rosh Hashanah. It's our annual time of introspection and self-analysis. It's also a week since the presidential election choice has been clarified, with the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as Gov.… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Election, Elul, Freedom, Justice, Parashat Hashavua, Re’eh, Tikkun Olam, Tzedakah, Tzedek