Maimonides – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

May 8, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #15: Gossip (Lashon Ha-Ra)

How does Torah define gossip? The dictionaries in English describe gossip as talking about people behind their backs, usually in an uncomplimentary way; or spreading rumors about people without knowing whether something is true; or sharing private details about someone without their permission. Gossip seems like a casual kind of talking, though of course the… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Ethics, Gossip, Kedoshim, Lashon Hara, Maimonides, Metzora, Middot, Parashat Hashavua, Speech Ethics, Tazria, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

February 10, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #10: Teshuvah

One of the most fundamental Jewish ethical practices is teshuvah. Teshuvah is the word that’s often translated as “repentance” and is too often just associated in people’s minds with the season of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Yamim Nora’im or Days of Awe. The word teshuvah has a broader meaning of “going back” or… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Bereshit, Ethics, Maimonides, Middot, Miketz, Parashat Hashavua, Teshuvah, Vayeshev, Vayiggash, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

November 14, 2024

A Year of Jewish Ethics #3: Is Anger a Moral Emotion?

Emotions are a part of ethics. We can’t completely disconnect the principles we want to be guided by from the feelings we experience when someone is living up to those principles or violating them. But does emotion help us act more ethically? I am recording this not long after the 2024 election, when anger… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Anger, Current Affairs, Ethics, Lech L’cha, Maimonides, Middot, Parashat Hashavua, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

November 13, 2024

Catching Up in College: Justice

I have more than a month of “Justice” to catch up on, after I took what I thought would be a short break for the Jewish holy days during which I’d catch up every few days. I’ll try not to do that again. It's also more than interesting that I have been thinking about this… Continue reading

College, Current Affairs, Ethics, Freedom, Justice, Maimonides, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

November 13, 2024

Catching Up in College: Justice

I have more than a month of “Justice” to catch up on, after I took what I thought would be a short break for the Jewish holy days during which I’d catch up every few days. I’ll try not to do that again. It's also more than interesting that I have been thinking about this… Continue reading

College, Current Affairs, Ethics, Freedom, Justice, Maimonides, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

August 28, 2023

My Magnum Opus on Teshuvah and “The Good Place”

I've put out post a Tov! podcast episode and an identical written piece, encompassing just about everything I can think of about how The Good Place on TV illustrates, elaborates, and even improves on a core teaching of Maimonides about teshuvah, the core Jewish metaphor and practice around personal change! Continue reading

Calendar, Elul, Ethics, Hakarat Hatov, High Holidays, Holidays, Jewish Education, Maimonides, Middot, Rosh Hashanah, Television, Tov! Podcast, Yom Kippur

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

April 25, 2023

My Love Letter to Hebrew

I gave this as a sermon on Shabbat, April 22, 2023, preceding Israel's 75th anniversary of independence. What I remember first about Mrs. Nussbaum’s Sunday School class is that everyone learned how to read a whole Hebrew word before I did. I can remember coming and looking at the book and I saw nothing. I… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Education, Hebrew, History, Holidays, Israel, Jewish Education, Maimonides, Yom Haatzmaut, Youth

September 5, 2022

Media From Me for Elul — Tov! Podcast, Maimonides YouTubes

We're deep into Season 3 of Tov!, my podcast about The Good Place and Jewish ideas related to teshuvah. You can find all the most recent episodes here, or type "Tov!" into your favorite podcast app. Also, I have been logging in at 12:36pm Eastern time each weekday this Elul to teach and talk about some classic teaching about teshuvah, mostly… Continue reading

Calendar, Elul, Ethics, Foregiveness, Halacha, High Holidays, Holidays, Maimonides, Ritual, Rosh Hashanah, Soul, Study, Talmud, Teshuvah, Torah, Tov! Podcast, Yamim Noraim