Rabbi’s Turn (Page 5)

By Rabbi Chaim Levine , Hope for Heroism As I write this column I’m sitting in Israel, A few days after Yom HaShoah and a few days before Yom HaZikaron, the Day of Remembrance and Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. Israel is wrapped in blue and white — it seemsContinue Reading

By Rabbi Daniel A. Weiner, Temple De Hirsch Sinai Is it senseless hype or civil heresy? Simple celebrity stalking or something deeper and more disturbing? Today’s (as of this printing) nuptials of Britain’s Prince William to Kate Middleton have sent the dream-weavers and lotus-eaters of pop culture into unprecedented statesContinue Reading

By Rabbi Rick Harkavy, Congregation Bet Chaverim “My father was a wandering Aramean….” It is with these words that our Passover Haggadah reminds us each year of the wanderings of our people throughout the ages. As we read the familiar passages, sing the well-known melodies and eat the traditional PesachContinue Reading

By Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum, The Kavana Cooperative At a conference earlier this year, I heard a denominational leader now close to retirement ask whether the young leaders who are going outside of traditional institutional frameworks understand “who published the siddurim that they are using, and who gave them their trainingContinue Reading

By Rabbi David Fredman, West Seattle Torah Learning Center A few weeks ago I was at an event in town and a friend of mine came over. We began to discuss different goings-on in the Seattle community. My friend, let’s call him Jack, told me about a certain Jewish eventContinue Reading

By Rabbi James L. Mirel, Temple B’nai Torah Dear JTNews reader: This column is addressed to those who are “unaffiliated.” The rest of you are welcome to read it as well. The word “unaffiliated” in this context means anyone in the Jewish community who is not a member of aContinue Reading

By Rabbi Berry Farkash, Chabad of the Central Cascades I encountered the following story on several Web sites: A number of years ago at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun, they all startedContinue Reading

By Rabbi Jill Borodin, Congregation Beth Shalom “Luchot v’shivre luchot menuchim ba’aron” — “The whole tablets and the broken tablets rested inside the Ark of the Covenant” (Babah Batra 14b). The whole and the broken rest together in our sacred covenant. This past week we read in our Torah portionContinue Reading

By Rabbi Alan Cook , Temple De Hirsch Sinai It was my honest intent to write an upbeat article for my guest stint in the JTNews. A reflection on the promise of the new secular year, perhaps, or an appreciation of something cute that my children had recently done. Truly,Continue Reading

By Rabbi Avremi Yarmush, Chabad Jewish Center of Whatcom County As a child growing up, my father would always repeat an epithet of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (the author of the Tanya), that “One must live with the times.” He meant that when one learns the weekly Torah portion,Continue Reading

By Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum, Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation The character Larry David plays on TV is one of the most annoying, infuriating people any one of us could ever meet. He is self-centered to the point of absurdity and his need to be right about everything jeopardizes his closest relationships.Continue Reading

By Rabbi Zari Weiss, Congregation Kol HaNeshamah As the sun begins to set on Wednesday evening, Jews and their families throughout the world will light the first light of the Hanukkah menorah. They will recite the blessings, sing a medley of Hanukkah songs, enjoy potato latkes and/or sufganiot (fried jellyContinue Reading

By Rabbi David Fine , Union for Reform Judaism Questions. We love questions, and we love asking questions of our rabbis. How many letters are in the Torah? (304,805, assembled into 79,847 words). How deep is the Dead Sea? Is it the saltiest body of water in the world? (It’sContinue Reading

By Rabbi Ben Aaronson , Capitol Hill Minyan Richard Feynman, recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics, worked as a young graduate on the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb during World War II. The greatest physicists of the day would regularly visit to consult on the project. NielsContinue Reading

By Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin, Regional Director, Chabad of Washington State and Congregation Shaarei Tefilah-Lubavitch As a prerequisite for atonement, in preparation for Yom Kippur, halachah (Jewish law) mandates that we ask for forgiveness — michala — if we have offended, hurt, maligned or otherwise done harm to our fellowContinue Reading

By Rabbi Cindy Enger, Congregation Beth Israel, Bellingham Shortly before Rosh Hashanah, the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue community enjoyed the fortunate opportunity to welcome Sam Amiel and Michael Novick, who both work with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, to Bellingham. They shared with us a number of current projectsContinue Reading

By Rabbi Mark Spiro , LivingJudaism Everyone knows the story of David and Goliath. But how many people know that the difference between these famous rivals can be traced to one point of origin and one critical, defining moment? David and Goliath were actually third cousins; descendants of Moabite sistersContinue Reading

By Rabbi Daniel A. Septimus, Temple De Hirsch Sinai In the Winter 2009 edition of Reform Judaism Magazine, the Union for Reform Judaism shared the results of a survey on post-B’nai Mitzvah retention. The impetus for conducting the study was quite simple: The leaders of the Reform movement have observedContinue Reading

By Rabbi Bernie Fox, Northwest Yeshiva High School My wife Shirley and I spent this past Shabbat in Pittsburgh visiting my mother. In the morning, I arrived at synagogue and took my usual seat next to where my father, of blessed memory, sat for many decades. Two rows in frontContinue Reading