In October 2010, a well-known comedy writer by the name of David Javerbaum created a twitter account entitled the tweet of God. For some giving a voice on twitter, of all places, to the creator of the heavens and earth may seen heretical but when you realize that twitter has 241 million active users, perhaps twitter is a more useful form of communication than trying to talk to your flock in church or synagogue. The “Tweet of God”, which has over 2 million followers, has become so popular that it … [Read more...]

I don’t recall exactly when it happened, one of those things that occurs when you are not looking and can’t remember when it wasn’t this way. What I know is that it happened and at some point talking about Israel became exhausting. It shouldn’t be…it doesn’t have to be…but most times it is.It’s exhausting because the conversation isn’t about our love of a place, our a connection to a people. Israel has turned into an issue as opposed to an idea. It has become a litmus test of someone’s … [Read more...]

Who Shall Live & Who Shall Die – The Death Penalty in Jewish Law On Wednesday the Nebraska Legislature voted 32-15 to repeal the death penalty, a move that would replace lethal injection with life imprisonment. Over the past few weeks many have claimed that God, and by extension the Bible, gives society the ability to put to death those who have committed crimes so egregious that prison is simply not enough. Those who read the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, know that the Capital … [Read more...]

Shabbat Tzav 5775Since I was a child I was fascinated with the prophet Elijah. As a child I remember staring at the Cup of Elijah sitting on our Seder table looking for any of the wine to disappear, proof the prophet had stopped by our home. In addition to being present on Passover Elijah is also present at a host of other Jewish ritual events, most notably Brit Milah, the Passover Seder, and the conclusion of Shabbat to name but a few. On Passover we open the door for Elijah for whom we believe … [Read more...]

It has been said that Jews have a 6th sense, thesense of memory.  There is not doubt that our most common denominator as Jews is our bond to certain watershed events in our people’s past. A bond that travels through our religious identity, for it makes no difference whether someone was born Jewish or converted in; our ancestors are their ancestors, our stories and their stories. We all have certain memories, photographs in our own minds, or smells take us back, if only for a moment to a … [Read more...]

July 24, 2014 – Jerusalem, Israel  This morning we woke up and headed north to Ramat Yishai to pay our respects to the family of Lt. Bar Rahav z"l.   We Spoke to the family, paying our respects…thanking them for their son’s service to his country.  I will admit that for a group of rabbis, attending a shiva house is a pretty standard experience and yet this was so far from the ordinary.  There are no words to describe the experience, except say that we were all heart broken, yet knew … [Read more...]

July 23, 2014 – Jerusalem, Israel We had planned to wake up Wednesday morning and head to Tel Aviv to meet with United States Ambassador to Israel.  Unfortunately, his boss came to town, Secretary of State John Kerry and so the Ambassador had to cancel our meeting.  What was set up instead was quite possibly even more interesting for our group.  We started the morning off by driving to Kehillat Ya’ar Ramot in Jerusalem.  At the Kehilla we heard from Ms. Talia Levanon, Director of the Israel … [Read more...]

July 22, 2014 – Jerusalem, Israel What a day… This morning began like most, davening shacharit then onto breakfast.  The beauty of this specific morning was that we prayed at Congregation Moreshet Yisrael, which is on the campus of the Fuchsberg Center for Conservative Judaism.  The Fuchsberg Center is a place I know well, having spent a year of my life living within its walls as a staff member on NATIV.  It was wonderful to be back, to see old friends and to reminisce.  Yet while everyone spoke … [Read more...]