Heschel – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

May 23, 2023

The Torah Is Not a TED Talk

This is a D'var Torah I shared February 11, 2023 for Parashat Yitro, but I'm publishing it now right before Shavuot, when we read the same section of the Torah, Exodus 19-20. This book — the Torah — has been read and encountered by millions of people through so many generations, and changed their lives… Continue reading

Books, Calendar, Conservative Judaism, Ethics, Heschel, Holidays, Maimonides, Parashat Hashavua, Prophets, Revelation, Shavuot, Study, Torah, Yitro

June 18, 2018

How to Use and Not Use Biblical Verses in Politics

This was my D'var Torah last Shabbat (June 16, 2018), in response to the back-and-forth between religious groups and Attorney General Jeff Sessions about what the Bible says about the policy of separating parents and children when families are suspected of crossing the U.S. border illegally. One afternoon a young yeshiva bocher, a student immersed… Continue reading

Bereshit, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Heschel, Immigration, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Justice, Leadership, Parashat Hashavua, Study, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA

May 31, 2018

Bring Philip Roth to Shul Day

This was my Dvar Torah on May 26, 2018, for Parashat Naso. I know one person, and maybe only one, who would have loved the beginning of this Torah reading – Philip Roth, the great American Jewish author who died this week at the age of 85. He was not really a Torah person, but… Continue reading

Books, Conservative Judaism, Current Affairs, Heschel, Jewish Education, Naso, Parashat Hashavua, Teacher-Student Relationship, USA

February 14, 2014

Introducing: E-Maggid

A few years ago, I sent out a series of weekly e-mails I called "e-Heschel", drawn from the writings of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. I am calling the next, similar project "e-Maggid." A maggid was a Chasidic teacher, often who traveled from place to place, who told stories or shared particular teachings. These weekly thoughts… Continue reading

Freedom, Heschel, Ki Tissa, Spirituality, Study

June 24, 2010

Heschel This Week — Faith and Reason Again

Coming back to Heschel after a short hiatus. The entire essay called "Faith" from 1944, found in the collection Moral Audacity and Spiritual Grandeur, is on par with the classics of Ralph Waldo Emerson. It's about the relationship between faith and reason. Here are a couple quotes (to subscribe to these weekly by e-mail send… Continue reading

Heschel, Spirituality

May 13, 2010

Heschel This Week — Interfaith Dialogue

I suggest that the most significant basis for meeting of men of different religious traditions is the level of fear and trembling, of humility and contrition, where our individual moments of faith are mere waves in the endless ocean of mankind's reaching out to God, where all formulations and articulations appear as understatement, where our… Continue reading

Community Relations, Heschel, Interfaith Dialogue, Spirituality

May 6, 2010

Heschel This Week — More on Justice

What we encounter in the world is not neutral, impersonal being, things, forces, forms colors. What we encounter is full of God's kindness, justice, and righteousness. "The earth is full of the kindness (chesed) of the Lord" (Psalms 33:5)…Kindness, justice, and righteousness are heaven's part in life. Its perception is the prophet's daily experience and… Continue reading

Heschel, Justice, Spirituality, Tzedek

April 30, 2010

Heschel This Week — Justice

In honor a group of teens from Temple Beth Abraham who took off part of two days of spring break to do volunteer service and learn about poverty in our community. The prophet is a man who feels fiercely. God has thrust a burden upon his soul, and he is bowed and stunned at man's… Continue reading

Heschel, Justice, Spirituality, Tzedek

April 15, 2010

Heschel This Week — More on Shabbat

There is a word seldom said, a word for a condition almost too deep to be expressed: the love of the Sabbath. The word is rarely found in our literature, yet for more than two thousand years the emotion filled our songs and moods. It was as if a whole people were in love with… Continue reading

Heschel, Shabbat, Spirituality

April 8, 2010

Heschel This Week — Critiquing the Synagogue

Rabbi's Note: You have noticed by now that Heschel is direct, perhaps even shrill. He speaks always in contrasts — the ideal, always coupled with the criticism in the same sentence or paragraph. I have my own dialogue with Heschel, with his words and his tone. Nodding and shaking my head, rephrasing or reframing for… Continue reading

Heschel, Prayer, Spirituality

April 1, 2010

Heschel This Week on Freedom

Chag Sameach! The meaning of freedom is not exhausted by deliberation, decision, and responsibility, although it must include all this….Free is he who has decided to act in agreement with the spirit beyond all necessities. Freedom is a challenge and a burden against which man often rebels. He is ready to abandon it, since it… Continue reading

Freedom, Heschel, Pesach, Spirituality

March 18, 2010

Heschel This Week — More on Prayer

…there is a wider voluntary entrance to prayer than sorrow and despair — the opening of our thoughts to God. We cannot make Him visible to us, but we can make ourselves visible to Him. So we open our thoughts to Him — feeble our tongues, but sensitive our hearts. We see more than we… Continue reading

Heschel, Prayer, Spirituality