One recent Shabbat, on the anniversary of his bar mitzvah, a young man with autism chanted Torah at our erev Shabbat service. I've been thinking about it since, and was genuinely moved by the whole experience. 

I have known this nearly-17-year-old young man

I have never attended a Tikkun Leil Shavuot, a community gathering to study Torah all night on the holiday of Shavuot. This year, that will all change!

Yom HaShoah is a day filled with paradoxes.

First paradox: how can we possibly do anything to memorialize or honor the memories of six million? The number is so immense that it defies comprehension. Like the picture here, which hints at the enormity of the.

I carry my brokenness with me
It is holy--
as holy as my breath,
my heart,
my wholeness.

It is a part of me, these
scattered pieces
of shattered longing
and battered dreams.
My sins.
All of them.
I carry them--
all of them;
All these broken things
that bend me and bow me,
to

We laughed so hard - at Cantor Doug Cotler's cleverly funny songs, at Rabbi Julia Weisz's ridiculously hysterical costumes, at my inappropriate yet Purimly-acceptable riffs on Megillat Esther, the story of Purim. We laughed out loud, belly laughed. And in between, we reflected on lessons of transcendent importance. We adults, we did.

This year, we celebrate the beginning of the month of Adar between “Shabbat Shekalim” and the Shabbat when we read the Torah portion “Truma” (donation).

Adonai spoke to Moses, saying:  “Go and tell Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to let the Israelites depart from his land.” But Moses appealed to Adonai, saying: “The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, a man of impeded speech!” (Exodus 6

Charisma  is overrated.

Yes, it can inspire devotion and admiration. But it depends on something stronger. It depends on chutzpah. Chutzpah is a Yiddish word best translated as “gall,” or “guts.” It is a willingness to break conventions.