Author Archives: Rabbi Avi Friedman
Stumbling Block
We started this week by observing Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day. As I pointed out at our community service on Sunday, the word “genocide” has been in the news quite a bit recently. Now, it’s never a good thing when genocide … Continue reading
Safe on Campus?
When I arrived on the campus of the University of Michigan in the Fall of 1987, there was already an anti-apartheid shanty on the Diag (the central pedestrian walkway and hangout space of the campus pictured below). It eventually came down … Continue reading
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Tagged antisemitism, campus, college, Gaza, Israel, politics, university
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We Remember
Here we are on the 3rd day of Passover. Spring is here. We are looking forward to the Festival of Shavuot which celebrates the giving of the Torah and the summer harvest. It is only seven weeks away. This ought to be a happy … Continue reading
Let My People Go
I remember very clearly adding a reading called “The Matzah of Hope” to our Passover Seders when I was growing up. It spoke of the 3 million Soviet Jews who could not celebrate Passover. It gave special significance to the words “Let … Continue reading
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Tagged hostages, Israel, Judaism, passover, pesach, religion
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Healing
Just a couple of months ago, I sent out emails to our fourth grade families with the date of their child’s B Mitzvah in three years. Inevitably, I get the same question from at least one of the families with a … Continue reading
The Good Guys
It seems like only yesterday that I saw the movie “48 Hours” transform Eddie Murphy into a bona fide movie star. Although it was definitely a comedy, there was a pretty serious moment at the end. The bad guy of the movie, … Continue reading
Making Room
I still remember my childhood bedroom. I had one wall completely covered with images that I had cut out from magazines. They were mostly my favorite players from my favorite teams. That wall made it my room as opposed to anybody else’s. It made … Continue reading
Posted in Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah
Tagged bible, god, Israel, sacred-space, synagogue, tabernacle, temple
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Making Coffee
The story is told of a funeral that took place on a bitter cold day. People were lined up around the funeral home waiting to get in and offer some words of comfort to the family. Some were shaking with cold, while … Continue reading
Some Help for Oz
I first met Oz Balas Bareket when he accompanied a group of his students from MetroWest High School in Ra’anana on their visit to New Jersey. He was very interested in discussing non-orthodox Judaism in the US. A couple of years later, … Continue reading
Posted in Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah
Tagged Gaza, Hamas, idf, Israel, news, palestine
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You Are What You Wear
I’m old enough to remember having to dress up to travel by airplane. I have a very specific memory of a tan leisure suit that my parents made me wear to fly to Florida. Given all the videos of people putting their … Continue reading
shalom RAF 