Tag Archives: Israel
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
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged antisemitism, campus, college, Gaza, Israel, politics, university
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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
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged hostages, Israel, Judaism, passover, pesach, religion
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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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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
A Little Piece of Israel
Every Friday morning, our ELC students march into our Sanctuary singing a song about the Torah. They march up on to the bimah and say “Shabbat Shalom” to the Torah scrolls in the Ark. Some of them notice the Lamp about the Ark – … Continue reading
Hamas & the Amalekites
Shortly after October 7th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared to Hamas to the Amalekites. A lot of people who don’t know very much about Judaism have claimed that Bibi’s use of that language was a call to genocide. People who know … Continue reading
Posted in Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah
Tagged amalekites, bible, Hamas, Israel
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Why Not A Ceasefire?
Just yesterday, I was discussing the situation in Israel and Gaza with someone who is genuinely struggling to understand the situation. He asked, “What is so wrong about calling for a ceasefire?” On its face, it’s a reasonable question. After all, who … Continue reading
Posted in Weekly On-line Rabbi's D'var-Torah
Tagged Gaza, Hamas, Israel, moses, politics
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shalom RAF 