Have you noticed that everything is moving faster these days…? A year feels like a month, a month like a week, and a week is a day. It was wonderful seeing everybody on the High Holidays. It was my 11th year celebrating with Congregation Tifereth Israel, but it felt as though we were there just a month ago. On Yom Kippur this year, I was bestowing a blessing I called “May you Fast Forward!” — to [...]

With the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II this week, hosts of people gathered around her coffin, waiting in never-ending queues just to get a glimpse of her majesty, even if just her spirit. It was the most watched event in human history.  The “queen of the world” had passed away. People saw her as a symbol of the Monarchy, but also as a mother and a grandmother, the head of a family deeply rooted [...]

When our shul’s next-door neighbors built a pool in their backyard, I toyed with the idea in my mind, that if our synagogue wanted to expand, we could become a modern day “shul with a pool.”  Sounds so cool. The phenomenon became popular in America in the early 20th century. In his book Shul with a Pool: The Synagogue-Center in American Jewish History, David Kaufman credits the synagogue-center idea to Henry Berkowitz (1857-1924), a member of the first [...]

It was Thursday, June 30, a beautiful summer evening, an opportunity to launch the kayak at the beach located at the end of Fourth Street. At 7 p.m., my dog Chaya and I were on the water. My phone rang. I saw it was a congregant calling, so I took the phone out of my waterproof pouch, and we conversed while I rowed. As I was speaking, I noticed that Chaya was extremely interested [...]

Exactly ten years ago, on July 1, 2012, I began my tenure at CTI. A few days later, on July 4, I moved into the Rabbi’s house. I was feeling somewhat like Abraham, our ancient father, who moved to the land of Canaan and maintained his double status as a ger and a toshav—an alien and a resident. Like Abraham, all Jews — perhaps all people — can ask themselves at some point, “When is this land [...]

What do we mean by Jewish continuity? This was the main question in our last session of the “Beyond Dispute” series on pivotal Jewish discourse over the centuries. It happened to coincide with the leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade and was a good opportunity to explain Jewish views regarding this sensitive issue. From the main question in the class, many others stemmed. For example, is procreation an absolute value in Judaism? What would it mean to [...]

Dear CTI family, Please join me in wishing the State of Israel “Mazal Tov” for its 74th birthday. A breeze of freedom is blowing through this season, from the ancients to modern times. We remember the rescue from Egypt on Passover, a week later the liberation from Nazi claws, and today, the Day of Independence for the State of Israel. We don’t take anything for granted. In Israel, Independence Day immediately follows Memorial Day. They are back-to-back so we can [...]

I’ll always remember where I was when the war in Ukraine started. I was in HEL (airport lingo for the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport), exactly a month ago. The night before, I was on a connecting flight to Tel Aviv, diverted back to HEL after an hour in the air. After a long wait, the airline provided us with shuttle transportation to hotels for an overnight stay. Navigating through mountains of snow, and now dragging the [...]

During Black History Month, America remembers the beauty of the African cultures and, at the same time, remembers what was done in the name of race. Just as Jews are sensitive to injustice, so too are Blacks. The racial narrative that often holds superficial external truths, manifested in different skin colors or other physical features, is deeply rooted. A couple of weeks ago, America was in upheaval over Whoopi Goldberg’s comments regarding the Holocaust: “This [...]