Most Jews in America were born here, so it's easy to forget the remarkable combination of courage, vision, and sacrifice that it takes to move to a new place, surrounded by a foreign culture, language, and expectations. It's easy for those of us whose ancestors showed such pluck to look with scorn upon today's immigrants - those brave souls who most resemble our grandparents and great-grandparents - and to see them as threatening "our" way of life or "our" jobs, just as earlier Americans viewed our families when they first arrived here. Read more...

"Isaac favored Esau because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah favored Jacob." (Genesis 25:28)  Read more...

Ours is an age of busy people, scurrying around to accomplish more at work, at play, and at home. Agendas filled to bursting keep us bustling from one activity to another, always on the run, always a little late. It is a sign of one’s importance to frequently look at one’s watch, or to always be near a phone. Our public activities – our image and our reputation – consume the better part of our attention and the lion’s share of our energy. Read more...

Friendship is an anomalous relationship in modern culture: We know the bonds that connect us to distant family, but even dear friends enjoy only a private connection, not one hallowed by legal or  social title. While friends may provide for essential emotional and professional needs, our debts to friends—and the contours of our relationships with those friends—is not regulated by law or custom. What, then, is friendship? Read more...

How involved should parents and children be in each other's lives?  Is there a graceful way of allowing those we love and live with to be responsible for their own lives while still offering whatever support and nurturance that lays within our power? The issue of where parental responsibility ends and where a child's begins is hardly new to our own age.  In every generation, parents have struggled with their appropriate role as their child reaches adulthood and begins to live an independent life.  Read more...