My Turn

On this Harmony Shabbat, it’s a good opportunity to refresh our understanding of the core principles that animate our shul. What does Beth Jacob stand for? What character traits define our shul family? In the words of Paul Venze z”l, what do we love about Beth Jacob?

A common critique of religion is that it exists only to blunt our fear of death through the deployment of comforting fairytales, replacing life’s great and unsettling unknowns with visions of an afterlife which are — if not less unsettling — at least less unknown. 

The “Jewface” label gets thrown around with the same carelessness as terms like “blackface” or “yellowface” do in the media and it needs to stop.

Other than an attack on America, when and where does America have an interest? And why?

I have just returned from Poland, where I went as part of a UJA-Federation of New York Rabbinic mission; there, we saw the refugees and heard their stories.

For over three millennia, Jews have been quarrelsome, fractious and divided, and have even celebrated their numerous divisions.

Women have always had a particular devotion to the synagogue.

This mad, crazy holiday of Purim leaves us all hanging between chance and fate.

Simply by living in the Jewish state, by speaking Hebrew, by serving in the army, and by bemoaning the lack of transportation from Haifa to Netanya on Shabbat, one is fulfilling the wildest dreams of those who came before us.