Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel would interview students entering Rabbinical school. He once asked, “If you were stranded alone in Antarctica, what is one thing you could not live without.” The student trembled in fear, unsure of how to answer this great Rabbi. A Torah? A mezuzah? A siddur? After a few moments, Heschel responded, “If I were you I would take a winter coat.”
Honorable Mensch-ion
A Blessing of Retirement
Last week, my father retired as a Rabbi after fifty years in the pulpit. This Shabbat will be the first week in a half a century that he will not give a sermon or acknowledge a birth, yahrzeit, or a wedding couple from a bima. He will be a Jew in the pew. Often, people approach Rabbis and say, “I’m coming to you because you have a more direct route to God.” In reality, each of us have the same access to the Divine.
Sacred Words That Matter
When we look at photos from the past year, we are often unrecognizable. Was that really me? We dressed differently, we had different hairstyles, and we have experienced life’s ups and downs. When we look in the mirror in a new secular year, we are in fact a different person. The same is true when Joseph reunites with his brothers. They do not recognize him as a person second in command in the land of Egypt. Joseph urges them to tell their father that God has made him the master of all Egypt in order to take care of his family. In this speech, Joseph says, “It is my mouth that is speaking to you.” Rashi explains that Joseph spoke lashon hakodesh, the sacred language of Hebrew. While he may have been dressed as the master of Egypt, he truly was their brother and son, the child they knew years before.
Three Mitzvot
A piece of Rabbinic trivia: Only a few times do we take out more than two Torahs from the ark, and this Shabbat is one of them.
The Chanukah Miracle
On Sunday evening, we will light the first Chanukah candle on one of the shortest nights of the year. Every single morning and evening of Chanukah, we add a prayer to our amidah. Al hanisim–we thank God for the miracles and for redemption. The words are simple, but for them to come alive, we must look at the actions the Talmud proscribes. The Rabbis debate in the Jerusalem Talmud how many candles shall be lit. One Rabbi says a single candle for the entire house, while another says a single candle for each person in the house. The argument continues with the famous Rabbinic pair. Shammai tells us to light eight candles the first night, and reduce to one on the last night. Hillel gives us the tradition of our day: light one candle the first night, and eight on the last, for we must only go up in holiness and not down.
Our Voice
A few weeks ago, my son looked at the moon as we were driving and said, “Abba, Rosh Chodesh is here.” While the rest of the world would simply say, “Look at the new moon,” this young child put it in perspective of his Jewish identity.
Always Seeking to Create
We are a people of generations. When we listen to our story, we must recognize the stories that came before us.
A Psalm of Thanksgiving
The year I lived in Israel, I thought I would miss Thanksgiving. To my surprise, most Americans had a turkey, ate pumpkin pie, and shared the blessings for which they were grateful.
Pray and Play
My mother always reminds me that a synagogue should be a place to pray and to play. A sacred space may not be only filled with serious moments of introspection and soul searching. Inversely, the places we frequent in our everyday lives garner the opportunity to bring the holy into the ordinary. This morning, I visited a young family who put up their first mezuzah in their home. As I showed them the shema on the parchment that was put into the mezuzah, the parents told their young daughter—this is the prayer that we say when we ask God to keep us safe.
“Who Is It?”
When the doorbell rang as a child, my siblings and I would race to be the first one to ask, “Who is it?” Today, the doorbell is extinct.
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