Community

The sense of peoplehood is the awareness that an individual has of being a member of a group that is known, both by its own members and by outsiders, as a people. (Mordecai Kaplan, The Future of the American Jew)

Disagreements can be a positive opportunity for enlightenment, growth and deep connection with others.

In providing venues for both consolation of suffering and the arousal of activism, rabbis lead our synagogues towards becoming communities of deep meaning.

Israelism captures a concerted effort that admonishes American Jews to see Israel as a — or maybe the — pillar of Jewish identity, synonymous with their Jewishness.

These are values and teachings central to our Torah and identity: to care and provide for the most vulnerable, to welcome the stranger, to honor our elders and to care for the sick.

Since Oct. 7, I have been proud to be the pastoral presence and the listening ear for my congregants, even more than I have been a purveyor of wisdom.

Burnout is a problem for rabbis on a scale that has not occurred before in my lifetime.

The first ordained rabbi in America did not arrive until 1840, almost 200 years after the first Jewish arrivals in 1654.

I hold the space between “you shall not change” and “you must change” for every community and individual I am blessed to work with.