Category: Uncategorized
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The Mental Health Seder Plate
Tomorrow night marks the beginning of Passover. I am certain that most of us will be keenly aware that this seder will be the second time we hold our Seders during the Pandemic. Once again many of us are not able to join loved ones in person this year. The year has taken a…
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To Err is Human
Photo: Chris Liverani [Unsplash.com] Very few people study the book of the Torah we begin this week, the Book of Leviticus, or Vayikra. I pity the poor bar or bat mitzvah student who has to summarize and find ways to relate to these portions , which deal mostly with the laws of animal sacrifice in…
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What We Can Learn from the Building of the Tabernacle
The Erection of the Tabernacle and the Sacred Vessels 1728 This week we conclude our reading of the Book of Exodus. The Book of Exodus begins with our enslavement in Egypt, and follows with the story of the Ten Plagues, our leaving Egypt, and our receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. The final…
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The Jewish Valentine's Day
Laura Ockel on Unsplash Probably most of us remember that this Sunday, February 14 is Valentine’s Day, or rather Saint Valentine’s Day. More than just a holiday celebrating love, it has become an economic powerhouse, a day eagerly awaited by retailers. Despite the pandemic, or perhaps because of it, this year consumers are expected…
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Is the Covid Vaccine a Miracle?
Despite the frequent frustrations, the constant worries and the maddening delays in deploying the Coronavirus vaccine, some of us have managed to get our first injection. Surely, many of us feel, we ought to recite a blessing when receiving what most consider a life-changing vaccination. But what blessing should we say? Rabbi David Wolpe…
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Martin Luther King Service
In 1963, the German born American Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who had a long history advocating for civil rights, participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom led by Martin Luther King, Jr. Rabbi Prinz spoke prior to Dr. King that morning. He said, “When I was the rabbi of the Jewish community in…
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Maintaining Liberty in Law
This week we begin to read the Book of Exodus, parasha Shemot. It begins with the Jewish people enslaved in Egypt by a Pharoah who, the Torah informs us, did not know of the contributions of the Jewish people to Egyptian society. The parasha proceeds with the liberation of our people and culminates in…
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The Sacredness of Tears
When I was 9 years old, my father had to go to the hospital to repair a hernia. These days a hernia repair is an outpatient procedure followed by a few days of bedrest. In my father’s day a hernia repair was treated quite differently. My father was in the hospital for an entire week, was…
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Celebrating our Diversity
Levitt Home in Naperville It seemed to come earlier this year. The weekend before Thanksgiving my neighbors began to put up their Christmas decorations. “Just taking advantage of the warm weather,” my next-door neighbor Steve said to me when I complimented the lights he and his son were stringing on the eaves of their…
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Peter Paul RubensThe Reconciliationof Jacob and Esau Last week we read in the Torah about Jacob fleeing from his home in Canaan in fear of his life. He had stolen his brother Esau’s blessing and Esau had vowed to kill Jacob once their father died. Jacob camps for a night on his way to…
Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph 