This week is Shabbat Nachamu the Shabbat of "comfort." It is named that because of the first verse of the haftarah that is read this week: "Comfort, oh comfort My people, says your God." (Isaiah 40:1) Shabbat Nachamu is always the first Shabbat after the fast of Tisha b'Av when we mourn, amongst other things, the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Read more...

More than any other book of Jewish text or literature, we jews read the siddur, the prayer book. As we imagine and re-imagine our relationship to our people and to God, we engage our heart, mind, and soul in the words of the siddur, sifting through generations of Jewish theology, belief, practice and history. No prayer is more central to daily liturgy than the Shema, the quintessential statement of faith that reminds us of the totality of the covenant we share with God. Read more...

In our technologically saturated era it is sometimes hard to peel back our memory only a few decades to the world of the telegram. The telegram was a mindful teacher that shared the wisdom of how pricey every word is. It also taught the art of minimalism and deconstruction, wed with the gift of music of but a few words. Read more...

One of the most intriguing and troubling passages in Pirkei Avot, a comment of Rabbi Yaakov (some versions say “Rabbi Shimon), asserts that “one who is studying while strolling, and interrupts the learning to remark, ‘what a beautiful tree,’ or ‘what a lovely field,’ Scripture considers as having committed a capital offense.” Read more...

This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Nahamu - the Shabbat of comfort or consolation. Named for the first word of the Haftarah, it speaks of the prophetic vision of Isaiah of the anticipated consolation after the destruction of the First Temple: "Nahamu, Nahamu ami - Comfort, comfort my people, so says your God." Read more...