All of the Hebrew former slaves to Pharaoh were scurrying through their homes, gathering their possessions in preparation for their march out of Egypt, toward freedom. Collecting their pots and pans, clothing, children, animals, their meager property, the Jews rushed to be ready to leave when the moment of liberation finally arrived. And Moses? What personal objects did he collect? "Moses took with him the bones of Joseph, who had exacted an oath from the children of Israel, saying 'God will be sure to take notice of you: then you shall carry up my bones from here with you.' " Read more...

Surely, this Torah reading contains some of the most dramatic and well-known scenes in all of written literature. The liberation of the Israelite slaves by God, the pursuit of the fleeing Hebrews by Pharaoh and his army, the splitting of theRed Sea, with Israel crossing safely beyond and Pharaoh's forces drowning in the waters -- these scenes indelibly shaped the consciousness of the Jewish people throughout our tumultuous history. Read more...

One of the ironies of modern Judaism is that so many of us consider the sermon to be the high point of the Shabbat service.  In fact, a sermon in the vernacular is a relatively recent addition to the service, and our tradition, as a whole, generally minimizes the significance of preaching.  Read more...

In the summer of 2009 I spent four weeks in 'vegan boot camp' to learn a new way of living. When asked what I do, I would say, 'I'm a professor of late modern Jewish philosophy'. I did my best to steer away from the words 'rabbi', 'mysticism' and 'kabbalah'. Usually once I answered the question in that manner, I would be nodded at, and the conversation would move on from there. 'My privacy spared one more day,' I would congratulate myself. Read more...