This weekend (September 4-5, 2015) traditionally brings the Selichot service of inner awareness and penitence in readiness for the High Holy Day journey of teshuvah (return, amends). There’s no more apt moment to spiritually reflect on the source of forgiveness. The thing is, Jewish thought is spiritually schizophrenic about the source of forgiveness. In 1711, an… Continue reading The divine dance of forgiveness

On September 10, 1813, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry led the U.S. Navy to victory in the pivotal Battle of Lake Erie, which turned the War of 1812 toward American advantage and ultimately preserved U.S. independence from the English crown. That day, Perry reportedly coined two historic phrases. One was “Don’t give up the ship” – now a timeless… Continue reading We have met the enemy

“Balaam and the Angel,” painting from Gustav Jaeger (1836). For all of Torah’s miracles large and small, the story of a talking donkey who sees an angel is perhaps Torah’s most magical and childlike narrative. In its words lurks a profound secret that touches (and challenges) the core of our adult sense of good and… Continue reading The Devil You Know

For all the spiritual riches of religious tradition, sometimes we forget our spiritual essence – the spark of divinity we associate with each soul, the inherent Oneness connecting all things, the heightened reality hiding in plain sight. Our penchant for spiritual amnesia is less a Jewish frailty than a human one: after all, to forget is human. Each world wisdom tradition, in… Continue reading A String Around Your Finger

In April, I represented ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal among #tenrabbis joining CLAL co-president Irwin Kula at the TriBeCa Disruptive Innovation Awards.  In the Green Room backstage with me were titans of industry, technology, education, advocacy, media and the arts who’d made fundamental change in the world – the likes of Bill Magee (co-founder, Operation… Continue reading Renewing Disruptive Innovation

Hello darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping, And the vision that was planted In my brain still remains Within the sound of silence. – Simon & Garfunkel Stereotypes can be risky, but it’s probably safe to say that Jews… Continue reading The Sounds of Silence

April 3, 2015, is Tzom Bechorot, Fast of the Firstborn when first-born Jews fast before the first seder of Passover. This day also coincides with Good Friday, an obligatory fast day in Catholic tradition. Because I’m a first-born Jew, I will fast for the first reason. Because I’m a rabbi and soon co-chair of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal,… Continue reading Tzom Bechorot: Why I’m Fasting Before Passover

When does time begin? What does time measure? What came before the beginning? Such mind-bending questions evoke timeless truths especially relevant at this very moment in the Jewish year. Humans measure space and time from origins – beginnings deeply rooted in history, culture and values. Moderns traveling east or west across the globe chart distance in longitude… Continue reading The Freedom of Now

Jewish life is turned around – so suggests this week’s Torah portion (Terumah) about the first Mishkan(ritual focus of cultic and religious life) in the desert. This ancient narrative offers profound reflections on the denominational ins and outs of modern Jewish life. One way to understand Jewish history is in denominational terms. Before modernity, Jews in their social, linguistic and… Continue reading Denominational Ins and Outs: the New Mishkan

On January 11, 2015, I received rabbinic smicha (ordination) from ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Six years of academic study, spiritual formation, pulpit experience and chaplaincy service culminated in a moment of transformation unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Assuming the traditional posture, I leaned back into my teachers’ hands as they intoned ritual words that… Continue reading Why a rabbi? Five aspirations for rabbinic life

“Merry Christmas,” we’ve heard for weeks. For Jews living in predominantly Christian societies, Christmas evokes responses ranging from joy to alienation. Some Jews encounter Christmas as a civic winter holiday for all, when grace and good cheer help sooth the social soul. Others experience the Christmas season as a time to tolerate excess consumerism, or feel that society’s adoption of… Continue reading Bah Humbug and Amazing Grace: Christmas for Jews

Thanksgiving beckons loved ones together to count blessings and honor journeys toward freedom and plenty. Whether our ancestors traveled to these shores from afar or already resided here, our forebears began new lives somewhere else. They placed foundation stones in new worlds, and their dreams for the future fueled them up and down new ladders of social and… Continue reading Pilgrim’s Progress: Thanksgiving, Plymouth Rock and the House of God

Election Day in the U.S. is coming. How will being Jewish shape your choice whether to vote? This November, Americans will elect a new 435-member House of Representatives, a third of the Senate, 36 governors and 6,057 lawmakers comprising 82% of all state legislators. Like paying taxes, serving on juries and registering for the draft, voting… Continue reading The Jewish Duty to Vote

Yom Kippur conjures solemnity and foreboding for many Jews. Ritual fasting, abstinence, penitence, and rehearsing for death evolved as core Yom Kippur tradition to rivet and purify the soul. Hidden from most moderns, however, is another level of Yom Kippur that is bright and light rather than dark and heavy—a day of highest joy and even… Continue reading Yom Kippur’s Circle Dance

Most moderns live life on the run. You probably don’t need any reminder, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average American claims just 17 minutes per day to relax and think. If you’re like most Americans, you’re running out of time just reading this post. Modern life has traveled far from the… Continue reading God at the Speed of Life

About me: I’m a judicial officer. I’ve served on presidential and gubernatorial campaigns, and as counsel to my state Senate. I earned one academic degree in international relations, a second in public law and a third in public policy, and I’ve taught graduate law and policy courses. Even so, in my current role, judicial ethics bar me from publicly discussing… Continue reading The Other Cries of War and Peace