Years ago, I was told the joke about a boy who murders his parents and then begs the court for mercy on the basis of being an orphan. Today, a new version is circulating across Germany.It tells of a father who organizes a complex and comprehensive plan to murder all his children. Some of them manage to escape to a distant land, only toRead More
Last Saturday night, American Jews, their friends and their families sat down to the most widely observed tradition in our community, the Passover Seder. Like most rabbis, I am always happy to see people engaged with Jewish practice. But unless the practices and rituals that mark the celebrations and sacred moments of the collective calendar shapeRead More
There appear to be two kinds of faith these days in America. The first, fundamentalism, promotes coerciveness and exclusivity, encouraging polarization, impenetrable boundaries and a deep suspicion of the other. The second, a type of New Age spirituality, is largely self-concerned, mainly focusing on the individual and his or herRead More