So how did Abraham become Abraham? How did Sarah become Sarah? We know that both Abraham and Sarah were "human, all too human." Their faults are on prominent display in this week's Torah portion. Abraham hides behind Sarah when they go down to Gerar, in order to save himself. Sarah demands that Hagar, the maidservant, mother of Abraham's first child (at Sarah's behest), be banished-and Abraham acquiesces to Sarah's demand. As a result of the expulsion Hagar and Ishmael almost die. Finally, Abraham almost slays Isaac on the altar. Read more...

My son Sammy is in second grade. For the last few weeks, Sammy has come home from school on Friday with a detailed description of how certain sensory organs work, mechanically. Our Shabbat table now includes a review of body parts and then a wonder-filled conversation about the amazing human body. Is it not miraculous, even with a scientific understanding that our ears transform sound waves into neurological stimuli with which we are then able to act or react to what is sensed externally? Read more...

Have you ever had the experience of talking to someone and in the middle of the conversation, you wonder if the other person really understands anything you are saying? Or worse yet, really cares about you or what you are saying? So often, people talk to each other; but sometimes, we don't listen. We can be distracted, half-listening, and half-thinking about something else. Rather than paying attention, we focus on how we can respond. We can be so busy formulating a response to what is being said that we miss the real message that is being sent. Read more...

The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gemorrah sulfur and fire out of heaven. He annihilated those cities and the entire Plain, and all the inhabitants of the city and the vegetation from the ground ... Next morning, Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before the Lord, and, looking down towards Sodom and Gemorrah, he saw the smoke of the land rising like the smoke of a kiln (Genesis 19:24-27) Read more...

One of the central dilemmas challenging modern men and women is that we turn for comfort and purpose to faiths whose central tenants we often find too simplistic or downright unacceptable.  Even as we affirm the importance of being Jewish, even as we struggle to support Jewish education and to transmit Jewish identity, we harbor our own doubts--not just about peripheral details of Jewish life, but about the very core of our ancestral faith.  How can we believe in a Creation of the world when we have seen the overwhelming and meticulous evidence for a Big Bang and for evolution?&nb Read more...