This week I had the honor of leading a session for the NFTY Convention’s Youth Summit which took place in Atlanta. The session was titled, “Igniting the Spark: Adolescent Spirituality” and it was lead by me and my colleague, Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire, dean of the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education at Hebrew College. […]
10 Words for Joy
A recent Facebook thread among Reform rabbis caught my eye. One of my colleagues asked if any of us knew the citation for a Jewish text that teaches 10 different terms for “rejoicing.” Another colleague quickly posted the text. Here it is (Avot de Rabbi Natan 34 or Shir Hashirim Rabbah 1:4): “Rejoicing is designated […]
The Gospel of Music: A Rabbi Goes to Church
Today I had the unique joy and honor of participating in an interfaith prayer service at the Historic Ebenezer Baptist church. I participated not only as a parishioner, but as a guest member of the house band, a composer of spiritual music, and a creator of interfaith liturgy. A number of years ago I wrote […]
Trendy Breakfast Spots
They don’t open until your kids have been awake and kicking for 3 hours. They make you wait outside in the cold. They don’t know how to seat parties correctly. The service stinks. The music is too loud and a bit too eclectic. When the wait staff stands next to one another their arms look […]
A Voice of Wisdom
Today I had lunch with a few of my close colleagues and our former head of school. Though I’ve seen our former head of school with some frequency over the years it’s been a while since we’ve had an extended conversation. Catching up with him today I was reminded what it feels like to be […]
Thank You, Jon Stewart
I watch The Daily Show. With the exception of his fairly idiotic views on Judaism I generally enjoy Jon Stewart and his point of view. I appreciate his ability to call out hypocrisy and his relentless disdain for the small mindedness that characterizes much of the conversation in the public square today and in the […]