Almost every Jew is familiar with the most terrifying moment in all of Jewish ritual practice. We prepare for it, knowing that it’s inevitable. We study, chant, pray, sing. As the dreaded moment approaches, we break into a sweat, smile bravely, as our heartbeat approaches Jane Fonda speed. Finally, the gabbai calls us up for an aliyah, one of the seven so honored by reciting the blessings before and after the reading of the Torah on Shabbat morning.  Read more...

For the last several weeks, rabbinic colleagues have been posting Facebook updates celebrating finished sermons (or bemoaning writer's block). Two rabbinic spouses (and a rabbi, aka me) met in Whole Food not an hour after havdalah on the Saturday night before Rosh HaShanah. Reviewing our shopping list one last time in the car Sunday morning with my husband to be sure we had gotten everything we needed, I said "I think we have everything. But I don't feel ready. I rarely if ever feel ready when Rosh HaShanah arrives." Read more...

In Moses's second to last speech to the children of Israel, before he dies and they enter the land, he hands them the "keys to the city" as it were. The centerpiece of this speech, coming after the rewards and punishments of the covenant, and right before the exhortation to choose good and therefore life, is the criterion for membership in the community. Read more...

Note: the following drasha is an approximation of an impromptu d'var Torah I gave at Emanuel Congregation in Sydney, Australia, where my husband and I were the grateful recipients of this community's tremendous and warm embrace of the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim (welcoming of guests) several weeks ago. Read more...

We are shocked and outraged at this morning's horrific acts of terrorism. We at the Ziegler School pray that God protect those yet unaccounted for, the families of the victims whose lives will be impacted beyond repair, and all the people of our nation whose understanding of the world has forever changed. We pray for the murdered, and for surviving victims of terror. Read more...