Conversation with the angel of death [1991]
December 18, 2014
The letter from Lillian came between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis
Dying we live [1995]
December 18, 2014
When last I spoke to my teacher, Abraham Joshua Heschel, he asked if he could borrow my kittel.
Beyond interfaith marriage
December 18, 2014
There is a methodological debate among demographers as to counting the number of Jews in the United States.
Hide and seek: The serious game Of T’shuvah
December 18, 2014
It is told of the Rhiziner Rebbe, that once when he came home from his shtiebel, he found outside his home a little boy crying. \”Why are you crying, my son?\”
We dare not murder memories of genocide
April 19, 2007
Amnesia of the past foreshadows amnesia of the future. Forget yesterday\’s tragedy and the threat to tomorrow is denied. Forget the first genocide of the 20th century — the murder of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 — and the memory and atrocities of the first genocide of the 21st century in Darfur turn invisible, and the world response is muted.
Loyalty to Jews or to humanity? There is no ‘either-or’
October 26, 2006
The question is whispered and must be answered in a forthright manner: Darfur or Israel? Is your loyalty to your people or to humanity? Is your loyalty to Judaism or to mankind? Are you essentially a Jew or a human being?
Interfaith Dialogue Can Bring Change
November 24, 2005
Institutions change. Change is not spontaneous, easy or automatic. It requires face-to-face encounters and a determination to dialogue. As Martin Buber famously put it, \”All real life is meeting.\” Absent dialogue, the vacuum creates disinformation and resentment.
Pray for the Innocent of Darfur
May 19, 2005
\”The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.\” Shakespeare\’s comment remains pertinent in our times.
Evil acts enjoy great publicity. Every inch of graffiti on the walls of schools is photographed, and every ethnic or racial outrage resonates in the public media.
Partners With God
January 13, 2005
In a passage from the Talmud (Makkoth 24a), Moses\’ blessing in Deuteronomy is cited: \”And Israel dwells in safety alone.\” The Prophet Amos arose to revoke that dubious blessing: \”Oh God, cease, I beseech you!
A Stand for Darfur
September 23, 2004
Don\’t throw away the newspaper! Newspapers are the day-to-day records of history. Judaism has a passion for meaning. Events have meaning.
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