Parashat Nitzavim opens emphatically with a moving description of the ceremony establishing the Israelites sacred covenant with God. While each one of us may personally accept our covenantal relationship with God at different times throughout our lives, the overarching bond, the quintessential relationship, is one that demands we stand amongst all members of our communities. Read more...

For 10 years I was the rabbi of a bustling congregation, and I often had the opportunity to counsel young people who were considering or planning a wedding.  When I asked them why the wanted a Jewish wedding, they would often tell me that they were doing it because of an aged grandparent or some other relative, or because their family went through the Holocaust.  As a way of honoring their relative or their history, a Jewish ceremony seemed the appropriate thing to do. Read more...

Americans are justly proud of our heritage of religious freedom, whereby a person is not judged by denominational affiliation, but solely on qualities of merit, citizenship, and integrity.  Even when our nation does not live up to that ideal, it still affirms the ideal as a standard worthy of emulation and of continued effort. Read more...

One of the most painful rabbinic duties is to try to offer comfort after a doctor has informed someone that he has a terminal illness.  Read more...

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...