On the Mountain – Shabbat Ki Tisa 5779 (2019)
February 22, 2019A single spot can tell many stories. This week, I stood at the corner of Dexter Avenue and South Decatur Street in downtown Montgomery, Alabama. I’m still absorbing, and trying [...]
Religious Life
The Work of our Hands – Shabbat Tetzaveh 5779 (2019)
February 15, 2019Ma’asei yadeinu – deeds done with our hands – are very much on my mind as Shabbat Tetzaveh approaches. I’ve spent today (Thursday) walking in Memphis, much of it at the [...]
Upright Writing – Shabbat Terumah 5779 (2019)
February 8, 2019The auditorium at Temple Emanuel in New York City was filled to the brim this past Tuesday evening for a gathering of 70 Torah scrolls. The scrolls, all originally from [...]
Holy Moses on the Mountain – Shabbat Mishpatim 5779 (2019)
February 1, 2019A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of participating in a four day, largely silent, meditation and spirituality retreat. A program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS), the retreat [...]
Shekhinah & Us – Shabbat Yitro 5779 (2019)
January 25, 2019 Rabbi David2019-02-09T21:48:13-05:00In these few words, Heschel channels and summarizes an ancient rabbinic interpretive tradition. The Torah’s phrase, “The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain” (Exodus 19:20), [...]
Mixed Together & Set Apart – Shabbat Va’era 5779 (2019)
January 4, 2019The fourth plague perplexes me. ‘Arov in Hebrew, and translated either as ‘a mixture of wild beasts’ or as ‘swarms of mixed insects’ the affliction involves an unruly, and perhaps unnatural combining [...]
Hitch Your Own Chariot – Shabbat Vayigash 5779 (2018)
December 14, 2018 Rabbi David2019-01-21T02:32:46-05:00With little or no fanfare, the Torah describes the reunion of Jacob and Joseph. “Joseph ordered his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel…”(Genesis 46:29). A closer [...]
Mourning Becomes Dancing – Shabbat Miketz / Hanukkah 5779 (2018)
December 7, 2018Jewish tradition assigns a specific psalm to each day of the week and to each of the holidays. The special psalm for Hanukkah, Psalm 30, includes a hint of that [...]
Margins & Mainstream – Shabbat Vayeshev 5779 (2018)
November 30, 2018With Hanukkah fast approaching, it must be Joseph time. Parashat Vayeshev begins the long cycle of Joseph stories which conclude the book of Genesis. We pick up the story at [...]
Angels in the Architecture – Shabbat Va-Yeitzei 5779 (2018)
November 16, 2018Song lyrics frequently float around my brain. This week, a verse of Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’ has run in a pretty constant loop. Here goes: A man [...]