Our guest this week is Rabbi Meir Azari, Senior Rabbi and Executive Director of the Daniel Centers in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Rabbi Azari was appointed congregational Rabbi and Executive Director of Beit Daniel in 1991. He holds an M.A. degree in Jewish History from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and was one of the first Israelis ordained by the Hebrew Union College in 1992. Rabbi Azari served as the Executive Director of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism and as a two-term chair of the Israeli MARAM (the Israeli Council of Progressive Rabbis). He currently sits on the Board of the Jewish Agency and is the Chair of the evaluation and measurement committee. Rabbi Azari is the author of a book about Israel’s Independence day, which explores the unique development of its celebration, and is the editor of an introductory book on Reform Judaism, the first of its kind to be published in Israel.
This Yom Kippur edition of Torah-Talk is dedicated to the Book of Jonah, and our discussion focuses on the special character of Jonah and on the book’s relevance to Yom Kippur. If you would like to learn some more about the Yom Kippur readings, check out our discussion with Rabbi Burton Visotzky.
