Rabbi Steven Abraham

In the weeks following October 7, a fundamental question emerged throughout Jewish communities around the globe: “How do we bring people back to communal life?” At first glance, this question appears practical and pressing. However, given the backdrop of unprecedented existential vulnerability facing the Jewish people, the question reveals a deeper crisis. It indicates an institutional disconnect—a profound misalignment between organizational concerns and the deeper, existential needs of … [Read more...]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/magazine/holocaust-story-education.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare Inadequate Holocaust education not only dishonors the memory of victims but also leaves students ill-equipped to recognize rising antisemitism and threats to democracy today. A recent article in The New York Times Magazine underscores the troubling truth that, despite educational mandates, Holocaust education in American schools remains inconsistent, incomplete, … [Read more...]

The late Rabbi Louis Finkelstein famously quipped, “You can’t be a success in the American rabbinate if you can’t talk baseball.” It wasn’t just a throwaway line. It was a recognition that for Jews in America—especially rabbis—baseball isn’t merely a pastime. It’s a shared language. A cultural meeting point. A sacred thread in the fabric of Jewish-American life. Even Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, the philosopher-poet of modern Jewish thought, appreciated the game’s meditative pace and … [Read more...]

If you walked into almost any synagogue on a Friday evening, you'd encounter familiar sights and sounds: candles flickering softly, ancient prayers being chanted, wine lifted, and fresh bread blessed and broken. At first glance, nothing about this scene appears especially revolutionary. Yet, beneath the surface, Judaism's sacred rhythm of Shabbat contains a radical economic message. In fact, a careful examination of Jewish tradition—from Shabbat to Shmita and Yovel, enriched by rabbinic … [Read more...]

Throughout history, Jews have navigated the complex terrain of belonging in a world that too often reminds us we are different. We’ve changed our names, downplayed our traditions, dressed to blend in, and worked to prove that we deserve a seat at the proverbial table. We have joined the clubs, paid the dues, followed the rules, and contributed to our communities in the hope that we would be fully embraced—not just tolerated, but accepted. And still, despite our efforts, the message comes … [Read more...]

In 2016, 2020, and again in 2024, a familiar storyline took hold in Jewish communal life: President Trump was tearing the Jewish community apart. To some extent, that narrative held truth. Trump’s presidency exposed and intensified longstanding tensions among American Jews—over Charlottesville, over embassy moves, over antisemitic dog whistles and dinner guests with swastika-laced social media. To many, he was a defender of Israel; to others, a threat to democracy and decency. But here’s what we … [Read more...]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/opinion/harvard-medicine-higher-education.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare In the past few weeks, the federal government has taken dramatic steps to hold universities accountable for the explosion of antisemitism on their campuses. Columbia, Harvard, Brown, Princeton—each now finds itself in the crosshairs, with hundreds of millions, even billions, of federal dollars on the line. The justification is clear: these institutions, … [Read more...]

Before Brené Brown made the arena popular, it sat under the glass in my office. There’s a line I return to often—not from Torah or Talmud, but from Theodore Roosevelt. From a 1910 speech in Paris, often quoted, often misunderstood: “It is not the critic who counts… The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… who errs, who comes short again and again… but who does actually strive to do the deeds… who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, … [Read more...]

What the Theologians Knew About Prayer Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote, “Prayer begins at the edge of emptiness.” That line has always stayed with me. He meant, I think, that prayer begins where words run out, where answers fail, where the world no longer makes sense and something inside us still refuses to go numb. Prayer, for Heschel, wasn’t passive. It wasn’t a way to flee the world. It was a form of resistance. “To pray is to stake one’s life on the hope that God is still listening,” … [Read more...]

Prayer Is Not Magic—But It Is Transformational Prayer is not magic. It does not grant wishes, bend reality, or unlock divine rewards like some celestial slot machine. It doesn’t promise miracles on demand or offer a shortcut through suffering. And yet—I believe in it. Not because of what it can get me, but because of what it does to me. Prayer, at its core, is not about outcomes. It’s about orientation. It is a practice that repositions the self—away from immediacy and … [Read more...]