rabbiariel

Shabbat VaYeshev: Do You Believe In Your Life?

Do you believe in your life? Enough to lose it? The media reports that people are frightened. More and more, the ordinary activities of daily life seem to be places in which a mass shooting might occur. “When I drop off my child at school,” “when I go to the mall,” “when I am at work,”Continue reading “Shabbat VaYeshev: Do You Believe In Your Life?”

Shabbat VaYishlakh: Angels Among Us

Do we believe in angels? It surprises me how often I am asked that question – that, or another one that asks about the “we” of Jews, and the “supposed to” of our beliefs. When you think about it, the whole idea that you are “supposed” to “believe” is already a curiosity. More, it isContinue reading “Shabbat VaYishlakh: Angels Among Us”

Shabbat VaYetze: Trans Torah on Trans Day of Remembrance

On Shabbat VaYetze we read of Jacob’s leaving his family under threat of death from his brother. His escape is hurried and frightened, and his path traces an ironic reversal of Abraham’s, as Jacob has to leave his family home, the homeland promised to his grandfather’s and father’s descendants, and his people just to survive.Continue reading “Shabbat VaYetze: Trans Torah on Trans Day of Remembrance”

Shabbat Toldot: Keep Digging

This week’s parashat hashavua commentary is published by T’ruah, The Rabbinic Call For Human Rights. You can find it here: Torah from T’ruah.

Shabbat Hayye Sarah: A Mitzvah Abraham Overlooked

The strain of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac, in last week’s parashah, is too much for Sarah, according to the Midrash. This week’s parashah, named for her, begins with the announcement of her death. Immediately after the initial mourning which is Abraham’s purely human response, he has to pull it together. Why? Because after all theseContinue reading “Shabbat Hayye Sarah: A Mitzvah Abraham Overlooked”

On the 20th Yahrzeit of Yitzhak Rabin

SONG OF PEACE On the death of Rabin Death itself is no surprise, of course, least of all my own – oh, but I hear you crying out as you take the wound with me, you too, bled by the years, a hundred, a thousand years of war – this madness that would breachContinue reading “On the 20th Yahrzeit of Yitzhak Rabin”

Shabbat Noakh 5776: Raging Seas

These are difficult days. The bad news from Israel, and from so many other places of hurting and hatred, seems to come in waves, deep ones. On such a day as this one feels as if one might drown. The imagery of Jonah’s cry is gripping: The waters compassed me about, even unto the soul; theContinue reading “Shabbat Noakh 5776: Raging Seas”

Shabbat Bereshit: We’ll Keep the Light On

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep (Bereshit 1:2) First comes darkness, then light. (Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 77b) At the beginning, there is darkness. This is not only true of the account of Creation as we find it in the Book we call Bereshit, known in English as “Genesis”.Continue reading “Shabbat Bereshit: We’ll Keep the Light On”

Shabbat Shuvah 5776

How long does it take for a Jew to write the first sin of 5776 in the Book of Life? Sometimes, only as long as it takes to get from davening to tashlikh. We are meant to take the whole ten Days of Awe to work our way toward a sense of forgiveness toward others and atonement forContinue reading “Shabbat Shuvah 5776”

Seek Peace and Pursue It – Psalm 34.14

As a Rabbi and as a citizen of the United States, I support the agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, Russia and Iran– The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. I encourage the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to endorse this agreement. The Obama administration has successfullyContinue reading “Seek Peace and Pursue It – Psalm 34.14”