Last night, we concluded our four-class series on Jewish memory, We Are What We Remember. (The curriculum was written by the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning, a project of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem). Over the course of a month, we explored different facets of (as the literature from Melton … READ MORE

I have a few loose items that I’d like to cover this week – a little mid-Passover house-keeping, if you will. So here’s the 1-2-3-4-5-6:   Pandemic Update In a moving and emotional appeal to the country earlier this week, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control … READ MORE

More than any other holiday, Passover is a holiday of miracles. We recall our slavery in Egypt, how God brought ten plagues upon the Egyptians and then took us out of that place. We read the story of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, the safe passage of the … READ MORE

As we get closer to the Festival of Freedom, the Festival of Border Crossing, I wanted to give you an update on the Acosta-Molina family. If you recall, I wrote about them a few weeks ago. They are a young Honduran family who have applied for asylum in the United … READ MORE

I am a religious Jew. So are you, by the way. You are part of a religious community. You have a religious sensibility which brings you to EMJC and/or other synagogues. A soul that is informed by the religious dimension of our peoplehood resides in you. You are religious.  You … READ MORE

Moe Levine, my paternal grandfather – my Saba – came to this country in 1931, when he was well into his 20s. He immigrated from Vilna, which was then part of Poland, in search of opportunity. He was not a refugee, exactly. The tidal-wave of anti-Semitism that would soon engulf … READ MORE

As the rabbi of EMJC, it is certainly important for me to be involved in every aspect of synagogue life and governance. Periodically, I like to inform my flock of important changes in synagogue policy, as well as keeping the membership apprised of any structural or renovative changes to the … READ MORE

We discussed in our Thursday morning class this week the interesting and strange “interruption” in the Sinai narrative that parashat Terumah represents. We are now firmly in the middle of the book of Exodus. Up to now, we have read the well-known and gripping stories of the enslavement of the … READ MORE

This is a head-spinning time for American Jews. For decades now, Jews have played prominent roles in American government. Jews have run on presidential tickets. Jews have been appointed to the Supreme court. Eric Cantor served as the House majority Leader for three and a half years, making him the … READ MORE

I’m always so surprised to learn new tidbits of Jewish history: the centrality of Jews in the history of chocolate and coffee; the theory that Jews are behind the development of the violin (and hence the symphony orchestra); Elvis being a devoted shabbes goi and Judeophile; Wyatt Earp being (common … READ MORE