A Shabbat Message
10/03/2025 04:58:47 PM
זה היום עשה ה' נגילה ונשמחה בו
This is the day that the Eternal has made, let us revel and rejoice in it (Psalm 118:24)
Dear...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
09/26/2025 12:19:23 PM
Shanah Tovah,
One of my favorite traditions over the high holidays at B’nai Abraham is to sit in the sanctuary, where all of you sit, for the last hour of the upstairs service. Once the family service and the subsequent schmoozing has concluded, I...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
09/19/2025 12:15:26 PM
Dear Friends,
The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, was deep in prayer one day when his disciples grew restless. They had finished their prayers hours ago, but he continued, seemingly oblivious. Eventually they left to take care of the day's...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
09/11/2025 01:28:24 PM
Shabbat Shalom,
Each Rosh Hashanah we proclaim, “הַיּוֹם הֲרַת עוֹלָם — Hayom harat olam! Today is the birthday of the world!” But the translation doesn’t capture the full meaning. The phrase is closer to: “Today the world is...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
09/05/2025 12:00:20 PM
Dear friends,
In my youth group days, we used to sing Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle"—a heartbreaking story of a father so consumed with providing for his family that he keeps missing the moments that matter. The father has all the right intentions, and...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
08/28/2025 03:56:10 PM
Shabbat Shalom,
Each Rosh Hashanah we proclaim, “הַיּוֹם הֲרַת עוֹלָם — Hayom harat olam! Today is the birthday of the world!” But the translation doesn’t capture the full meaning. The phrase is closer to: “Today the world is...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
08/21/2025 09:17:16 AM
At my college drop-off, it was an overcast fall, Minnesota day. We pulled up in front of my dorm and were greeted by some incredibly animated orientation leaders. I had not yet discovered coffee, but they clearly had....Read more...
A Shabbat Message
08/08/2025 10:22:30 AM
Shabbat Shalom,
Sometimes after I drop my daughter off at daycare, I treat myself to a quick breakfast at the Livingston diner. I’m there once every few weeks or so, and if I get the right server, I...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
07/29/2025 12:45:32 PM
Shabbat Shalom,
I’m coming to you a few days early with an important announcement:
The High Holidays begin this Saturday night.
Okay, I will be a little more precise. The High...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
07/25/2025 09:21:59 AM
Shabbat Shalom,
As I write this email, the scorcher is giving way to a short thunderstorm, which should eventually give way to our 85° equilibrium. Needless to say, Shabbat services will be indoors tonight, and as you...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
07/11/2025 09:41:07 AM
The Torah contains only two instances of an animal speaking in human language. The first occurs in Genesis 3, the well-trodden story of the Garden of Eden and the deceitful snake who tricks Adam and Eve into eating from the forbidden fruit.
The second occurs in this...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
07/04/2025 09:51:33 AM
Shabbat Shalom!
I hope you are enjoying this holiday weekend amongst your family and friends. The confluence of July 4th and Shabbat gives us an opportunity to reflect on what it means to be American Jews today. Each generation of Jews in this country have had significant...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
06/27/2025 11:08:19 AM
A Shabbat Message
06/23/2025 08:33:12 AM
Shabbat Shalom,
Last Friday night I began our Shabbat service with the words of Rabbi Donniel Hartman:
“I’m not sure if this is Day 616 of the war or Day 1.”
And he’s right. Day 616 is staggering; Day one is daunting. Daunting not because the...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
06/06/2025 01:43:55 PM
When I started learning Yiddish 14 years ago, as with any language, one first learns how to respond to the question: “How are you?” After the pleasantries of good, not good, so-so, we took a step deeper into broadening our...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
06/01/2025 11:15:32 AM
Dear Friends,
This week marks 600 days since October 7—600 days since Hamas’ terror attack, 600 days of captivity for hostages still held, 600 days of rising antisemitism worldwide. While we’ve made progress in dismantling Hamas and...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
05/23/2025 05:44:47 PM
Dear Friends,
This week marks 600 days since October 7—600 days since Hamas’ terror attack, 600 days of captivity for hostages still held, 600 days of rising antisemitism worldwide. While we’ve made progress in dismantling Hamas and...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
05/16/2025 03:52:13 PM
Dear Friends,
What holiday practices do you cherish most? Family meals with relatives you rarely see? Hanukah candles? Kids returning with the afikomen and wide grins? Or perhaps, a BBQ?
We typically associate grilling with July 4...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
05/09/2025 06:11:28 PM
When I was in high school I took four years of Latin. It felt deeply impractical at the time, though learning a language with such an intense focus on grammar...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
05/02/2025 03:16:18 PM
Dear Friends,
As you may have heard on numerous occasions, the highest mitzvah a person can do is to save another life. As the rabbis teach, whoever...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
04/21/2025 09:50:39 AM
Dear Friends,
Approaching the final days of Pesach, I wish to remind us of our tradition’s expectation that we...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
04/21/2025 09:24:48 AM
Shabbat Shalom,
If someone unfamiliar with Passover walked into Shoprite this week, they’d notice a few strange things: The produce aisle would be out of parsley, the butcher would be selling hundreds of lamb shank bones with no meat on them, and everyone, myself...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
04/04/2025 03:38:19 PM
Dear Friends,
With much of my family having come from the Former Soviet Union, I've grown up on stories of my family members having to be extremely cautious about what they said or...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
03/28/2025 02:33:48 PM
Dear Friends,
Tonight we reach Shabbat haChodesh, the Shabbat preceding the new moon, marking the start of the month of Nissan, the month of Passover!
Passover is called z’man cheiruteinu— the festival of our freedom. This should make...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
03/21/2025 01:56:57 PM
Dear Friends,
A distressed man once approached the Chazon Ish, an early 20th-century Russian-Israeli rabbi. He explained that he didn’t have enough money to pay his taxes that year, and so, he wouldn’t be allowed to vote in the coming election. The Chazon Ish...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
03/07/2025 10:05:49 AM
Shabbat Shalom,
I just returned yesterday from a sunny week in Siesta Key, Florida. Despite leaving Minnesota 12 years ago, I am a midwesterner at heart, and midwesterners go to the west coast of Florida. But still, Florida is Florida. We stayed just off...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
03/07/2025 10:04:53 AM
Dear Friends,
This week has been heart-wrenching. I keep coming back to Yarden Bibas’ eulogizing words, expressing his pain in failing to protect his wife and children despite his having fought back on October 7 and having been taken hostage. I continue to be moved to...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
02/28/2025 04:13:43 PM
Dear Friends,
This week has been heart-wrenching. I keep coming back to Yarden Bibas’ eulogizing words, expressing his pain in failing to protect his wife and children despite his having fought back on October 7 and having been taken hostage. I continue to be moved to...Read more...
A Shabbat Message
02/21/2025 02:40:05 PM
Shabbat Shalom,
You may not be familiar with the Hebrew terminology, but you are likely aware that kavod hamet, honoring the deceased, is a mitzvah more important than almost any other. The laws that dictate how to care for the dead are layered with detail and meaning, from...Read more...