Why do people turn to Judaism? Certainly we have lived through enough to know that being religious doesn't mean that we can avoid the spills and disappointments that festoon the road of life. A Jewish commitment doesn't automatically liberate a person from fear or anxiety or guilt, nor can it guarantee happiness or success. If Judaism can't provide those lofty goals, then what good is it? Why bother? Read more...

This week's Torah portion, and a full moon in the sky, have led me to pose our opening question. In a Torah reading where so many promises and threats are woven together one needs to stop and ask, "What, perhaps, is God afraid of in His/Her relationship with people?" or subsequently, "What are human beings, perhaps, afraid of in their relationship with God?" I'm drawn to this question by virtue of an observation that is made in chapter 28, verse 47: Read more...

Sometimes it seems that I spend more time on the road traveling than I do here in Los Angeles. In fact, it doesn't surprise me to realize that I now know the inside of American Airlines' jetliners as well as I do the layout of my own home. Meetings in New York, family simchas and commitments (with six siblings and many cousins these can quickly add up), conferences, speaking obligations, and even the occasional vacation - the number of times I come and go from LAX adds up quite quickly. Read more...

One of the sorry attributes of most adults is the routinization of the soul. We become complacent, taking for granted our daily routines, our closest relationships, and our familiar possessions. What we see, we frequently fail to notice - an odd form of blindness indeed. So it is that even residents of the most luxurious mansions fail to marvel when they wake up in the same magnificent bedroom they have used for the past two decades, just as we all fail to be truly moved by the miracle of having a bed at all. Read more...

  Read more...