There are various metaphors used to describe what we are supposed to be doing during the Days of Awe, the High Holy days. Sometimes we talk about being asleep, and the shofar blast is part of what wakes us up to be in the moment and pay attention to what... Continue reading

The sermon I gave at Temple Beth Emeth v'Ohr Progressive Shaari Zedek on Yom Kippur morning, September 14, 2013: Today at sunset, or at the conclusion of our final Yom Kippur service for the day—whichever comes first—we will break our fast together, and that will mark the end of this... Continue reading

Sermon delivered at Temple Beth Emeth v'Ohr Progressive Shaari Zedek during the Kol Nidrei service, September 13, 2013: We have begun the most intense part of our period of repentance and atonement for this year. Those of us who do not have medical conditions that require food and drink will... Continue reading

Last night I spoke about the cycle of our year, and the inevitability of making mistakes over the course of the year that require repentance when the high holiday season rolls around again. And the fact that we do have good reason to repent every year does not make us... Continue reading

This is the sermon I gave at Temple Beth Emeth v'Ohr Progressive Shaari Zedek in Brooklyn, NY, on Erev Rosh Hashanah, September 4 (so early in the secular year!): Here we are again. Another Rosh Hashanah has arrived—this one disconcertingly early in the secular year. Together with Jews around the... Continue reading

Watching the movie Les Misérables, I was struck by the extent to which the story—which is largely bleak—and the movie are infused with religious faith. Continue reading

Trigger warning: this d'var Torah talks about rape and its consequences, both biblically and in the current political climate. At the end of August I wrote a d'var Torah for the Torah portion Ki Tetse. I haven't posted it here yet, but it continues to be relevant as discussion of... Continue reading

The anthem for this sermon was Mary Chapin Carpenter's Here I Am. This is it. This is the big day, the last opportunity for atonement during this year’s Days of Awe. We will recite again the prayers we have been reciting through this season, and at the end of the... Continue reading

L.M. Montgomery, author of the Anne of Green Gables series, wrote a less well-known series of books called Emily of New Moon. These books are aimed at young adults, but like many good books of that genre, they have much to recommend them to adults as well. Emily of New... Continue reading

The anthem for this sermon was Live Like We're Dying. In a little while we will read from the Torah, and today’s Torah reading is the story of the Akeidah, the Binding of Isaac. This is a familiar story. Abraham is commanded by God to bring Isaac to a mountain... Continue reading

The anthem for this sermon was Sounds of Silence. My family is fortunate enough to live in a house with a back yard. The back yard is concrete-topped, but all around the edges there are vines. There’s ivy, morning glory vines, and most of all, a fast-growing pumpkin-type vine that... Continue reading

Shpizi at rest. These photos are not entirely gratuitous--11yo needs them for a school project, and I put them here so she would be able to get them. Continue reading

Shpizi asleep. Continue reading

Shpizi curled up. Continue reading

Shpizi with her eyes open. Continue reading

Shpizi upside down. Continue reading

Last week was a difficult week for our congregation and for me personally--after a 16-month struggle with liver cancer, our congregation's president, Lawrence Frost, died. This is the d'var Torah I wrote for that Friday evening: This week we observed Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. For many of us in... Continue reading

We are coming now to the end of Passover, our joyful spring holiday. At our seders, we asked questions, we learned, we discussed how we were slaves in the land of Egypt, and how we were freed from that degradation and pain by the strong hand and outstretched arm of... Continue reading