USA

April 29, 2026

How Jewish Law Is Made (Parashat Emor 5782)

This was my D’var Torah on Parashat Emor in 2022/5782. Our parasha describes the case of a fight between two men, and for some reason it’s worth mentioning that one of them had an Egyptian father and an Israelite mother, and the other had two Israelite parents, and in the middle of the fight the… Continue reading

Conservative Judaism, Current Affairs, Emor, Equality, Halacha, Justice, Parashat Hashavua, Torah, USA
April 29, 2026

Sterling Bans Silver For Life (Parashat Emor 5774)

This is the D’var Torah I gave for Parashat Emor in 2014/5774. How is this for a news headline from the week: “Silver Bans Sterling for Life.” That’s from NBA.com, the official website of professional basketball. Usually, “sterling” is the most refined kind of silver, but this week it’s been the opposite. Sterling is Donald… Continue reading

Civil Rights, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Emor, Ethics, History, Inclusion, Leadership, Parashat Hashavua, Torah, USA, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

Sports
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
December 25, 2025

Not a Christian Nation, Mr. Vice President, But Yours and Mine

I published this post on Facebook on December 22. 2025, to much positive reception, so I am posting it here too. Sometime around when my family was lighting our last Chanukkah candles last night, the Vice President of the United States proclaimed in a speech at the Turning Point USA convention that the United States… Continue reading

Calendar, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Freedom, History, Holidays, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Leadership, Tzedek, USA, Young Jewish Adult
December 14, 2025

Hope From the Pits

This is the D’var Torah I shared on Shabbat, December 13, 2025, for Parashat Vayeshev just before the first candle of Chanukkah 5786. On Thursday, I spent a good part of an hour staring at images of specific chanukkiot. It’s a bit early to be doing that — Chanukkah doesn’t start until tomorrow evening —… Continue reading

Calendar, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Holidays, Hope, Parashat Hashavua, Prayer, USA, Vayeshev
December 10, 2025

Who is Courageous? A Chanukkah Answer from Aristeas to Us

Here is yet another version of my take on the takeaway today from the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates, a Jewish work from the time of the Maccabees that presents its own view of Jewish position, role, and voice in a “modern” world. The question I’ve been speaking about the past few weeks leading to… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Community Relations, Current Affairs, History, Holidays, Inclusion, Israel, USA
December 10, 2025

Speaking to the World: A Chanukkah Message from the Letter of Aristeas

This is another iteration of a Chanukkah teaching theme of mine, relating to what the era of that festival can teach us about the relation of Jews to the larger world, and the Jewish voice to the larger world. I shared this particular version around Chanukkah 5785 (2024). Alexandria in Egypt was kind of the… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Community Relations, Current Affairs, History, Holidays, USA
December 10, 2025

From the “Archives”: Parashat Vayeshev and the 50th Anniversary of JFK’s Assassination

I am updating my site with what I take to be interesting Divrei Torah (“sermons”) of mine that I hadn’t shared before. This one, connected with the Torah reading of the current week, I shared in November 2013. As I studied this parasha in light of all the commemorations of President Kennedy this week, I… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Dreams/Dreaming, History, Inclusion, Leadership, Parashat Hashavua, Power, USA, Vayeshev
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
October 9, 2025

I’m a Sophomore!

There is much momentous happening today, and I’m sure I’ll be back here or in some other way with thoughts on that. But for now I’m posting about another project. A couple weeks ago I started the second year of re-reading my college notes again, on (more or less) the calendar date when I wrote… Continue reading

Adam Smith, Books, College, Ethics, Freedom, Middot, Psychology, Social Theory, Tocqueville, USA, Young Jewish Adult
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