The Jewish internet erupted when a Jeopardy champion botched a Final Jeopardy Question that would’ve been pretty easy/ridiculously easy for most American Jews. Here’s an article that links to the video. While it’s quite funny and gracefully handled on the show, it also is a good reminder of the fact that knowledge is culturally embedded. […]
Daily Life
Making room for Shabbat
Behold our dining room table: Tonight we pushed back some of the stuff of daily life to make room for Shabbat. Hence our dining room table is 1/2 Shabbat and 1/2 the stuff of daily life. Two kids, two jobs, Amazon prime, birthday party supplies, unpacking from recent Israel trip: the […]
Do you have a Torah to teach?
Between undergrad and rabbinical school I spent two years working at the Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale. I thought it wise to spend some time working in the Jewish community after college and before embarking on the path to officially becoming a rabbi. Every aspect of those two years was a blessing. One […]
How we celebrate
Jewish tradition teaches, “Rejoice in your holy days, and may your holy days be joyous.” As it turns out, Judaism has dozens of words that are all synonyms for “celebrate.” Simcha, rina, ditza, oneg… These are just a few. We learn a lot about a culture from its language. That Judaism has so many different ways of […]
How we honor
Jewish tradition teaches, “Who is worthy of honor? One who honors all creation.” How and what we honor says a lot about who we are. We live in a world that undervalues honor and that makes a caricature of honor. We undervalue honor by dishonoring almost everything: our selves, our communal institutions, our leaders– political […]
Life doesn’t always make sense
This week my synagogue community laid to rest a beloved member of our congregation– Marcia. The last time I saw Marcia wasn’t at Temple, but at Trader Joe’s. I was on my way out with the kids and she was on her way in. A true lover of children, Marcia immediately struck up a conversation […]