Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

New web host, new look! Bear with me while I set things up and make sure the content and links I had before are updated in the coming weeks.

Terrorism

May 27, 2026

After Tel Aviv and Orlando (Parashat Naso 5776/2016)

These is a slightly edited version of the words I delivered these words as an introduction to the Torah reading at Shabbat morning services for Parashat Naso on June 18, 2016, on a day we celebrated a Bar Mitzvah in the congregation. Shabbat Shalom. It is so good today — הנה מה טוב ומה נעים… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Community Relations, Current Affairs, GLBT, Interfaith Dialogue, Justice, LGBTQ+, Love, Naso, Parashat Hashavua, Terrorism, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
September 8, 2025

Finishing My First Year of College (Part 2)

I'm about to start year 2 of my project of rereading my college notes, but I didn't finish up putting down some last notes on year 1. The part of Gov 1170 that really struck me in my final read had to do with political parties and their role in enabling social conflicts to be… Continue reading

College, Current Affairs, History, Inclusion, Terrorism, Young Jewish Adult
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
October 9, 2024

A Year Later, Back to Moshe’s Final Words of Blessing — Rosh Hashanah 5785 (2024) Day 1

On Simchat Torah morning, after we parade with the Torah scrolls, we gather around to read the very last words of Moshe Rabbenu, Moses our teacher. The man who could hardly speak departs with an original song – his words, not God’s. And his last sentence in life begins: Ashreicha Yisrael, Mi Chamocha. Happy… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Gaza, High Holidays, Holidays, Hope, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Leadership, Moshe, Power, Rosh Hashanah, Terrorism, Torah, Yamim Noraim, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
May 16, 2024

An Invitation From a Zionist to Non- or Anti-Zionists: Talk to Me

For the non-Zionists or anti-Zionist in my circle, a sincere set of questions from a Zionist. I’m actually looking to understand where you are coming from, so these aren’t gotcha questions. I’ve been working on this for a week or more, but held off posting so as not to intrude on people’s marking Yom Hazikkaron,… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Equality, Ethics, Freedom, Gaza, History, Holocaust, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Islam, Israel, Justice, Peace, Speech Ethics, Terrorism, Tikkun Olam, Yom Haatzmaut, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
May 15, 2024

Yom Hashoah Remarks 5784 (2024)

This is what I said at the ceremony of lighting candles at the end of our annual Holocaust Remembrance Program in Nashua which the Jewish community holds at Rivier University in conjunction with the school, our Catholic partner in remembering. After the thank you's I said this: We came here this evening to learn and… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Gaza, History, Holidays, Holocaust, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Justice, LGBTQ+, Power, Terrorism, Tikkun Olam, Tzedek, Yom Hashoah, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
March 18, 2024

Adar Conversations Continued: Esther and Responding to Anti-Semitism After October 7

Rabbi Karen G. Reiss Medwed and I recorded this conversation last night, and you can watch it on YouTube or listen as a podcast. The Megillah (the biblical Book of Esther) is a story of anti-Semitism set in the Diaspora in a multiethnic empire where Jews were living in peace. How did the Jews of… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Education, Esther, Ethics, Gaza, Holidays, Holocaust, Israel, Joy, Leadership, Patience, Power, Simcha, Terrorism, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
March 11, 2024

Conversations Toward Purim: Esther-Informed Spiritual Therapy for 5784 (And Beyond?)

To listen to this as a podcast recording, click here. You can watch, or read the same thing just below the video thumbnail. This is an introduction to a few conversations about the festival of Purim and the months of Adar in the Jewish calendar. I am releasing this on March 7, 2024, the 27th… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Esther, Ethics, Feminism, Gaza, Holidays, Israel, Joy, Power, Purim, Talmud, Terrorism, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
January 5, 2024

Who Were the Baby-Savers of Exodus and Who Are We?

Saving babies, according to the Torah, was the first crack in the oppression of the Israelites by Pharaoh. In the first two chapters of Exodus, the start of this week’s Torah reading in the synagogue and Jewish study cycle, two sets of people save baby boy Israelites from the death decreed by Pharaoh. First it’s… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Calendar, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Exodus, Feminism, Freedom, Gaza, History, Holidays, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Midrash, Moshe, Parashat Hashavua, Peace, Shmot, Terrorism, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
November 21, 2023

Yitzchak’s Wells: Digging and Re-Digging Today

Genesis 26:17-18, from the Torah reading for the past week:“Yitzchak (Isaac) went from there and encamped in Nachal Gerar and lived there. And Yitzchak went back and dug all the wells of water that they had dug in the days of Avraham his father, and the Philistines had stopped them up after Avraham’s death, and… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Gaza, History, Hope, Israel, Parashat Hashavua, Terrorism, Toldot, Torah
November 18, 2023

Reflections on Marching and Lobbying for Israel on Nov. 14

This is the note I sent out to the congregation and posted on Facebook. Dear Friends: This past Tuesday along with about a dozen people from our synagogue, I was in for the March for Israel at the National Mall in Washington. About 20 people from the Southern New Hampshire Jewish community were there in… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Gaza, History, Israel, Justice, Leadership, Peace, Terrorism, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
October 20, 2023

Righteous Enough for the Time

This is my D'var Torah for October 21, 2023, Parashat Noach. When Noach was born, the human world had only just stopped being young. If you do all the math, you see that Adam had lived to see nine generations including his own. I can imagine that people had begun doubting whether Gan Eden had… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Ethics, Freedom, Gaza, Hakarat Hatov, History, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Justice, Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Terrorism, Torah, Tzedek, USA