Twenty-Three: A Poem for the Grieving
And so I will lay you down
In a field of grass,
Sere and grey,
Bending gracefully with the wind,
And shadowing a hidden, twisted path
That leads nowhere--
Or everywhere.
Back,
Forever back,
Until I stand again
At this place--
A House of Worship is Also a Home
When I was a young rabbi at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue 30 years ago, a congregant asked me what I was doing to help the homeless in our city.
Galilee Diary: Half a Glass
It’s a winter night; the sound of the jackals’ howls is carried up from the valley on the cold air, feeling very close, while we are cozy and warm inside
February is Jewish Disability Awareness Month
Tomorrow marks the start of Jewish Disability Awareness Month, a time when the North American Jewish community comes together to raise awareness and support efforts to foster inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in Jewish communities worldwide.
Getting Married... Again
Gay and lesbian couples love to get married. Again and again. Rather than marrying other people each time, we tend to marry the same people again and again.
Turning a Super Bowl Bet into a "Super Mitzvah"
Rabbi Joe Black is the senior rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Denver, CO. His friend and colleague, Rabbi Daniel A. Weiner, is senior rabbi of Temple DeHirsch Sinai of Seattle, WA.
The Torah In Haiku: T'rumah
Exodus 25:16 - And you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you.
What Pete Seeger Did for Israeli Folk Songs
Pete Seeger was our country's greatest champion of authentic American folk music. He sang traditional ballads, songs of working people, protest songs, songs to save the Hudson River.
Galilee Diary: The Identity Marketplace
Last year our education center at Shorashim was asked by a high school in Haifa to help the staff there produce a day-long seminar for the 400 eleventh graders on Jewish pluralism and on what is shared – and what are the conflicts – among the various "streams" of Judaism.
A Broken Wrist, a Little Perspective, and a Wish for 2014
I broke my wrist. Bummer. Major bummer. I didn’t do it with any kind of grace or with anything close to a great story attached to it. I tripped over a curb at the Mobile station. Great story. Did I mention I broke my right wrist, and that I am right-handed?