Justice

January 6, 2026

Brotherhood, Evolving (Parashat Shmot, MLK Weekend 5783/2023)

This is excerpted and adapted from a D’var Torah I gave in January 2023, when MLK Weekend began on Shabbat with Parashat Shmot, the opening reading in the book of Exodus. Here I’ve omitted the (long) opening, which is very similar to most of the other words I have posted about those opening chapters of… Continue reading

Civil Rights, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Equality, Ethics, Exodus, History, Inclusion, Justice, MLK Day, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Shmot, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
October 23, 2025

During the Flood, Inside the Ark — Learning From Bonhoeffer and the Freiburg School

This was my D’var Torah about Parashat Noach in 5783 (2022). This Torah reading centers on the Flood. This teaching here is about “during the Flood”, and at the end I discourage us from seeing our era as sliding toward the Flood. If we do see it that way, we still might ask the question… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Economics, Ethics, Holocaust, Hope, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Justice, Leadership, Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek
October 12, 2025

Why Our Jewish Community Should Be at the CROP Hunger Walk

If you’re in our area, I hope you will be part of next Sunday’s interfaith CROP Hunger Walk. Here is why I think that’s important always, and especially for all of us thinking about the place of Jews in America right now. Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Equality, Ethics, Food, Gaza, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Jewish Education, Justice, Peace, Synagogue, Tikkun Olam, Tzedakah, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
September 26, 2025

Rosh Hashanah D’var Torah Day 1 — Moral Autobiography

This is my D’var Torah from the first day of Rosh Hashanah 5786 (2025). One of the best questions I was asked all year came at a training in April with an organization called Resetting the Table. Resetting the Table teaches people how to transform toxic divides into a shared future, and one of the… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Education, Ethics, High Holidays, Holidays, Israel, Jewish Education, Justice, Lech L’cha, Middot, Rosh Hashanah, Teacher-Student Relationship, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA, Vayera, Yamim Noraim, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
September 26, 2025

Rosh Hashanah D’var Torah Day 2: The Power of Kindness in a Brutal World

This was my D’var Torah for the second day of Rosh Hashanah 5786 (2025). In a piece in Slate about the TV show Ted Lasso, Amanda Prahl wrote: Kindness is the vanilla of emotional concepts. It has the reputation of being safe, two-dimensional, passive, and utterly bland. Ask any culinary expert, though, and they’ll tell… Continue reading

Anger, Antisemitism, Current Affairs, Gaza, Gratitude, High Holidays, Holidays, Immigration, Inclusion, Israel, Justice, Leadership, Middot, Rosh Hashanah, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA, Vayera, Yamim Noraim
April 7, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #14: Labor Justice, Part 1

The Jewish perspective on the responsibilities of employers reflects the story of our oppression in Egypt, shi’ibud mitzrayim. That oppression began as forced labor, and when the Torah teaches about wage workers, it often uses the same words that it uses to describe slavery. Jewish law recognizes the inherent dynamic between the one who pays… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Equality, Ethics, Exodus, Halacha, Justice, Middot, Power, Torah, Tzedek, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
March 17, 2025

Another Week Back in College

I'm catching up on the whole week, after preparing for and celebrating Purim…. The week's notes in Lit and Arts were a lot about the successors of Charlemagne, and the disjuncture between the disintegration of their authority and their realm, and their self-representation in Christian books and architecture as Christ's designated earthly power. As I… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Art, Equality, Freedom, History, Inclusion, Israel, Jewish Education, Justice, Power, Study, Tzedek, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
March 12, 2025

Recommended Links of Mine for Purim This Year

Here in one place are links to the pieces I've done related to Purim and our contemporary world that I think are particularly worth a look or listen this year. For reading, listening, or watching. Introducing Adar Conversations: Esther-Informed Spiritual Therapy (read and video) Getting to Mi Yode'a ("Who Knows") — Moral Clarity in a Topsy-Turvy World… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Current Affairs, Esther, Holidays, Inclusion, Israel, Jewish Education, Joy, Justice, Leadership, Middot, Midrash, Power, Purim, Shabbat Zachor, Simcha, Terrorism, Tikkun Olam, Tov! Podcast, Tzedakah, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
March 6, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #12: Exodus and Freedom

In my overview of ethics and Exodus, you may have noticed I didn’t talk about one central idea: freedom! Well, the Jewish conception of freedom deserves its very own presentation. In Judaism freedom has many layers. The term for free people is b’nai chorin; a free person might be a bat chorin or a ben… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Beshalach, Ethics, Freedom, Justice, Middot, Parashat Hashavua, Power, Torah, Yitro, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
January 29, 2025

Wrapping Up My First Semester

I am probably already getting a late start on my second semester of college review, so here I am bundling all my leftover notes about first term. I haven't mentioned my Hebrew literature class with Professor Safran. I don't know that I have notes. We read mostly Agnon stories, and talked a lot about his… Continue reading

Books, College, Ethics, Hebrew, Justice, Psychology, Tzedek, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
November 20, 2024

Back to College: From Aristotle to Rawls

So back to Justice. I’m trying to see if there’s anything from Aristotle that is in the notes but didn’t stick in my mind back then. One thing I see is the distinction between habits and character. Which is really what distinguishes Aristotle from any old consequentialism. One ought to act the way a virtuous… Continue reading

College, Current Affairs, Ethics, Freedom, Justice, Middot, Tikkun Olam, Tzedek, Youth
November 15, 2024

Avraham: Extraordinary Compassion and Justice in the Same Chapter

This is the draft of my D'var Torah for tomorrow, focusing on Genesis 18 within Parashat Vayera. One afternoon when Avraham did not feel at all great, two things happened. First, he saw three strangers going along their way and he ran out to them to bring them home. Second, and right after, he had… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Election, Justice, Love, Middot, Parashat Hashavua, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA, Vayera