Robbery

March 12, 2014

I’d like to report a theft. Purim has been stolen from our children. And from their grown-ups too. Adult-only Megillah readings and Purim shpiels deprive kids from watching the adults in their community observe the mitzvot associated with Purim. (This is not a joke.) When I was a kid, parents, grandparents, big kids, little kids […]

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Hello Again

February 20, 2014

So…I clearly needed a break. And it’s not as if I haven’t been writing or busy with the #36rabbis or that I haven’t had anything to say. I just kept it to myself. Now I’m back. And with a link to a piece that Ben has written about his experience at Jewish sleepaway camp. We’ve […]

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Heart-Broken

December 17, 2013

On average, the human heart weighs between nine and twelve ounces. Less than a pound. A hollow muscle. But I defy any expert who disagrees that a heart can equal the weight of the observable universe. Or falter from the suffocating pressure of a vise. Or shatter into innumerable shards. Or be uplifted on a […]

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Business or Pleasure?

December 15, 2013

An innocuous question. After all, I’m at the airport in the dusky hours of the morning. And people are, in fact, typically travelling for either business or pleasure. Or, occasionally, both. Or neither. There is no business on this journey. I cannot steal my heart behind my rabbinic shield. Files of work accompany me. I […]

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Sorrow

December 14, 2013

And Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and lamented him (1 Samuel 25:1) Died. Sammy. Sweet Sammy has died. He is dead. His parents haven’t “lost” a child. They would never…could never…be so careless. He didn’t “pass” or “pass away.” We pass a driving test or a kidney stone. We don’t just pass through […]

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