(Sermon for Parashat Vayikra [Leviticus 1:1-5:26], 4/5/25.) THIS WEEK’S TORAH PORTION, LIKE the entire book of Leviticus it’s taken from, asks: “How do we get close to G?d – and survive?” Leviticus’ answer is excruciatingly detailed – so much so…
Tag: Being Jewishly
Living Judaism with heart, soul, and all we have.
Breaking Class
(Sermon delivered this past Saturday morning. Feel free to scroll past if you’re not into that sort of thing.) KI TISA IS ONE OF those Torah portions that helps give G?d a bad name. It seems that every time we…
Hillel, Adapted
Q: “CAN YOU TEACH ME THE whole Torah in a dozen words or less?” A: “‘Don’t be a jerk.’ The rest is details; now go experience them.”
One Letter (Alright, Two)
(If you’re not hot for stretchy, out-on-a-limb Jewish linguistic mysticism, best sit this one out. Otherwise, please enjoy.) IT’S NO SECRET THAT JEWS love words. (After all, Torah begins with “God” speaking the world into being; if you need further…
Minute Mitzvah: ALL ONE ALL ONE OK OK!!!
Today’s Task: Know that “God” is One. My dead psychic twin Sputnik, who rediscovered his natal Christian faith around the same time I came back to Judaism, was fond of saying, “Monotheism is not for wimps.” By that he meant…
Looking Out, Looking In
(A recent sermon.) SOMETIMES, A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE CAN be a good thing. A lot of perspective? Even better. That point is illustrated in this week’s Torah reading, when Joseph admonishes his brothers after they fib that their father told them…
Pocket Theology
BEFORE WE BEGIN, LET’S HAVE an agreed-upon definition or two (c. OED, mostly): mystic 1. one who believes that union with or absorption into the Deity or the Absolute, or the spiritual apprehension of knowledge inaccessible to the intellect, may…
Shock Absorber
THE MORNING OF NOVEMBER 6, 2024 gave me the biggest and most horrific shock of my sixty-two years. I won’t go into why, because half the country already knows why, and those processing the same emotions could use fewer words…
Torah, Nutshelled
(A recent Yom Kippur sermon.) הִגִּ֥יד לְךָ֛ אָדָ֖ם מַה־טּ֑וֹב וּמָֽה־יְהֹוָ֞ה דּוֹרֵ֣שׁ מִמְּךָ֗ כִּ֣י אִם־עֲשׂ֤וֹת מִשְׁפָּט֙ וְאַ֣הֲבַת חֶ֔סֶד וְהַצְנֵ֥עַ לֶ֖כֶת עִם־אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃ – Micah 6:8 MANY SMART PEOPLE HAVE TRIED to distill the Torah and its 613 mitzvot – “commandments,” or “connections”…
I’m Going to Make This Viral If It’s the Last Thing I Do
THAT IS TO SAY, THIS: That Sonoma Valley’s synagogue-centered Jewish community is … “our little Anatevka-among-the-vines.” So there.
One Another
THE SCENE: LAST WEEK AT a medical office. It was a strictly routine matter, but one which involved removing my cabbie cap and disclosing my kippah. “How was your Chanukah?” the technician asked. “It was good,” I replied. “Lots of…
Wish List
I want the rockets and bombings to stop. I want Hamas to surrender. I want the hostages released. I want civilians to stop dying. I want peaceful coexistence. I want to live without fear. I want to live without being…