Rabbi's Blog

Good Yontif. Good Yontif.

One of my favorite stories about Albert Einstein was about how he found inspiration.

Einstein was an unusual person. As a youth, he was a mediocre student. In college, instead of attending class, he would focus on playing his beloved violin and performing concerts...Read more...

Good Yontif.

Va yelekh Avram kasher diber Adonai.

And Abraham went forth as Adonai had said.

Va’ yaavor Avram baaretz.

And Abraham passed through the land.

After I moved to the...Read more...

“A land that eats its inhabitant or a land flowing with milk and honey?”

Shabbat shalom

Ki Tavo el Haaretz. When you come to the land.

The land of Israel is both a physical location and a spiritual location.

Our Torah is always trying to get there. It always concludes before we get there, to begin again. That makes us like Moses, standing on top of the mountain looking out yearning to get...Read more...

Shabbat shalom. Mary McNeal was an orthopedic surgeon. While on holiday in South America, she had a kayaking accident. Her kayak was pinned under the water and she was trapped. Despite great effort by her companion, she couldn’t be rescued and she was declared dead.

This is where she had the beginning of an...Read more...

My name is Monica Garcia Norlander. My Hebrew name is Chaya Ora, which means Life and Light. I am proud to stand here today as an alumna of the West Suburban Temple Har Zion class titled, “Introduction to Judaism.” In the class, I learned a solid foundation of Jewish knowledge, I joined a community of other learners, I cemented my decision to raise a child with Jewish values, and I grew on my personal journey.

In...Read more...

Shabbat Noach 5778 – ‘The Human Gift for Unity’

Hineh ma tovu u manim shevet achim gam yachad

How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters sit together in...Read more...

Good Yontif,

I was once at La Guardia airport in New York, and there was a man walking from person to person, looking...Read more...

Shabbat shalom,

What a week! Charlottesville last weekend, Barcelona on Thursday… How do we respond to all of this?

There is a story that Rabbi Akiva, the leader of his generation, was once summoned by the Roman governor, Rufus. The governor asked him, why do you Jews circumcise your males? Is God’s creation not perfect?

Rabbi Akiva showed the governor, in one hand flax, in the other a garment. He asked, ‘which...Read more...

When I was young and lived in the Old City in Jerusalem, our family was in a big apartment. My room was across what seemed like an impossibly long and dark hallway to the kitchen, where I imagined my parents always were. I don’t remember much else about the apartment but I remember the hallway as a frightening place…

In our parashah this week, Bo, the Torah recounts to us the final intensification of the plagues. Finally, Pharaoh...Read more...