I spent all of Yom Kippur last year in a hospice in Denver, Colorado. In an institution filled with people who were dying, one of whom was my mother. It was the most profound Yom Kippur experience I’ve ever had in my life; more than that, it was certainly the deepest spiritual experience I’ve...
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On Yom Kippur we read the story of Jonah, the reluctant prophet who fled from his God-assigned mission on a ship, was tossed overboard, and spent three days inside a big fish before God decided to give him another chance. So naturally, the story of Jonah makes a very appropriate subject for a sermon...
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When someone in the USA commits a “Federal offense,” and are convicted of the crime, they are sentenced according to a standard set of Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The guidelines, which are available online, are very complicated. Everything is a “points” system, where there are so many points given for the basic offence the person...
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At 7:00am California time on September 11, 2001, I was at home in Los Angeles, still in bed, when the phone rang. It was my mother, calling from Denver: "turn on your television, something terrible is happening in New York" were all the words she could choke out. Confused, we got up, turned on...
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Once again, the fast of the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av is upon us. Once again, we're fasting not feasting: the Messiah has not yet come. The world we are in is still broken. Israel still faces many challenges, from within and without. We are now in what many call the...
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It's now 49 days and 20 hours of the omer...Shavuot will be here in a few hours. The time count is appropriate because we've been counting for the last seven weeks already...counting the days until we reach tonight. Seven weeks ago we celebrated Passover and spiritually left behind "Mitzrayim," our narrow place, and started...
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