From The Bimah: Jewish Lessons For Life

I am not proud of it, but one day while on a recent long flight, to make the time pass, I found myself reading a rom com, total beach reading. There were so many other worthier things I could have read. I could have read an analysis of the impasse on judicial reform in Israel. Or I could have done daf yomi, the study of a daily page of Talmud. Or with Passover coming up, I could have studied the Haggadah to get ready for the seders. But no, I read a rom com, light and breezy. I know it would be wrong to evade taking responsibility for this choice. I did it. I own it. I would never want to blame anyone else. I would never want to blame my wife Shira, for example. Even though Shira read it first and seemed to be thoroughly engaged while reading it. Even though Shira downloaded it on our family Kindle. Even though when I asked Shira for a recommendation, she pointed me to this book. Still reading the rom com is on me. The novel features a woman named Nora who writes love stories produced on The Roman

The impasse over judicial reform in Israel continues to be concerning and unresolved. Protests continue. Conversations have not resulted in resolution. Positions are hardening. The compromise which President Herzog implored both sides to work towards remains elusive. Talk to Israelis—their morale is low. They are troubled. “We hope we get there”—to Israel’s 75th. This Shabbat we are blessed to have a familiar voice and dear friend offering us a genre that we have not yet encountered regarding the impasse: poetry. Rachel Korazim, born in 1948, has lived her life in Israel. She is an expert in Israeli poetry. Before the pandemic, she would teach at TE in person every year. Since the pandemic, she has continued to offer classes to TE members on Zoom. In fact, one of the classes she is offering remotely now concerns how poetry speaks to this moment. On Shabbat, through the magic of technology (thank you Brian Lefsky and David Beckman), Rachel Korazim, in Israel, joins our clergy team and in person learners

I recently heard a podcast featuring Andy Stanley--have I mentioned him before? He is a pastor in Atlanta--and his wife Sandra, and they were discussing a most compelling question: How do we parent our children so that when they grow up and grow out, they want to spend time with their parents, and with one another, even when they don’t have to? If this is our goal, our parenting north star, that should motivate all our parenting decisions along the way.

When I was in Jerusalem last week sitting shiva for our father, after folks gave their condolences and shared their memories, they would ask me for my take on Israel. The conversation was sobering, making me feel naïve and disconnected from the real Israel that is. Me: In Greater Jewish Boston, we are so excited to be marking Israel at 75. A big contingent from our shul is going to celebrate Israel at 75! A big contingent from the whole Boston Jewish community is going to mark this joyful and incredible milestone! How are you thinking about Israel at 75? Comforters: One of two responses. The less common: “Not on our radar screen at all. We’ve given it no thought till you just mentioned it.” By far the more common: “I hope we get there. Not clear that we will make it to 75 as one country.” In the shiva house, I had the sinking feeling that there was not one death I was mourning, but two. Something has died in Israel beyond our father – a belief of Israelis

March 4, 2023

As a child, I reveled in the heroism of Mordechai. I admired him for his gumption, for the way he stood up to Haman and never betrayed his values--even when his very life was at stake. I was taught to see Mordechai as a capable and wise civil servant, as a mensch who took in his orphaned niece and loved her like his own, and as a visionary who empowered the people around him, most especially his niece, Esther. But the story of Mordechai is more complicated than that of a simple hero. Tomorrow, we're going to interrogate the narrative that so many of us were taught: Was Mordechai a true hero who lifted up good Jewish values every minute of his life? Or was Mordechai a self-centered politician who was so focused on his own image that he risked the safety and well-being of the Jewish people in order to prove his dedication to Judaism? Was Mordechai a benevolent and loving uncle? Or was he a manipulative abuser, forcing Esther to conform to his will and serve his purposes? Is the point of Purim to celebrate heroi

February 25, 2023

The mass murderer of 11 innocent people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh will go on trial in April. The Justice Department is seeking the death penalty. What do we think of that? Two questions present themselves. First, if we were to look for wisdom from Jewish sources, should the Tree of Life mass murderer be sentenced to life in prison, or the death penalty? One of the strongest arguments against the death penalty is concern that the justice system might makes a mistake and convict and execute an innocent person. That is not a concern here. There is 100% certainty that on October 27, 2018, at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the defendant murdered 11 innocent human beings. If we know that he did this unspeakable act of evil, would the primary Jewish source suggest that this is one of the rare times we would favor capital punishment, or not? Remember, however, that mass shootings in America are tragically and depressingly all too common. If you beli

Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz and Alan Teperow as they discuss Alan's passion for painting.

This week, we are reading Parshat Mishpatim. This Torah portion is all about rules and regs. After the revelation, God spells out in minute detail what the people should do and how they should behave. It’s not a conversation, not open to interpretation, the laws are given without explanation and the people simply accept them. They say, na’aseh v’nishmah—we will do what God says and then we will seek to understand what we are doing and why. So often, this is how we engage with our world. That is how law enforcement agents get into trouble. They get so hooked on forcing people to behave in a certain way, so focused on doing rather than thinking, that they lose track of what is appropriate force and end up causing harm rather than maintaining order. It happens in the classroom too. Recently, I was speaking with a family. Their child had come up with a creative way to solve a math equation. Their methodology wasn’t the same as what was being taught, but it worked. Every answer they wrote on their worksheet was ri

A 26-year old named Ilya Sosansky was the seventh victim of the terrorist attack in Jerusalem on January 27 in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood. Ilya Sosansky was a graduate of AMIT Technology High School. AMIT sent out an email describing the indescribable loss of this young man. Ilya Sosansky was a beloved, popular DJ. His friends described him as a young man filled with a joy for life, who could cheer up anyone. Adi Yona referred to Ilya as, “A charm, a walking smile, a good soul who only did good.” At the end of AMIT’s email are three Hebrew words: “Hashem Yikom Damo,” meaning, may God take revenge for his blood. How do we think about praying for revenge? It is a complicated question with sources on both sides. On the one hand, there is a famous prayer for bloody revenge during the Shabbat Musaf service Av Harachamim that is in traditional Orthodox siddurim that channels the vengeful, bloody energy of Psalm 137 (“By the rivers of Babylon, there we say…and wept”), which climaxes by invoking a

If there's one lesson of this coming Shabbat, it is that life is not a solo sport - we are better when we are together - all of us. That applies to leadership - Yitro teaches Moses to include others as leaders. That applies to family - Moses listens to Yitro, including him in decision making. And that applies to community - when our ancestors gathered at Sinai, they spoke together as one, including all. We are holy when we are one. We are stronger when we are one. We are better when "we" is truly inclusive of all! This week at our Talmud Class we have the privilege of learning in conversation with a true expert on how to get inclusion right, Shelly Christensen, co-founder of Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). She will be teaching us, “From Longing to Belonging: How wisdom from Isaiah gives us God’s definition of inclusion.” Click here for texts.

Often, we experience music in a passive way. In a synagogue setting, very few of us know where liturgical melodies come from and rarely do we have the time to consider the effect of any particular melody on our prayer experience. (Even when we do have the time and inclination, we often struggle to find words to articulate the impact of a melody on our emotional or psychospiritual experience.) This class is about tuning in--literally--to the magic of Sephardic music. These melodies are fascinating. They are often rhythmic and upbeat. They play with intervals and motifs which sound exotic to our ears. When paired with prayers, these melodies have a very different effect on our hearts than do the traditional Ashkenazi melodies that sometimes dominate Jewish spaces. During Talmud, Elias sings different Ashkenazi and Sephardic melodies for five different prayers and we as a clergy team are going to be discussing how each melody affects our heart and our internal experience. This class isn't about music theory or m

January 28, 2023

The law of unanticipated consequences. As Micah Goodman shares with Danny Gordis in this utterly fascinating conversation about Israel today (35 minutes and well worth it), conservative leaders are chastened and restrained by the law of unanticipated consequences. Since we never actually know what will ensue from our conduct, the wisest course is humility and restraint lest we unintentionally unleash a hurricane that we never saw coming. Micah offers two examples: What is the unanticipated consequence of birth control being readily available in Europe? Answer: Radicalized xenophobic, racist, far-right politics. How? Because of the pill, European families had smaller families, which led to fewer workers, which led to increased immigration to fill those worker slots, which led to Muslim immigration, which led to complexity and navigating cultural difference, which led to a conservative backlash against Muslim immigration, which led to the ascendancy of far-right xenophobic parties in Europe. Unan

The great writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez once observed: “Everyone has three lives: a public life, a private life, and a secret life.” I learned of this quote in the forward to a fascinating book about secrets. Written by noted American Jewish author Letty Cottin Pogrebin, the book is entitled Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy. Pogrebin talks about how deeply held, and deeply embarrassing, secrets were part of her family’s culture.

“Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am the Lord. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God…I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…” But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage.” Exodus 6: 6-9. Our reading this week begins with God promising the Israelites, through five famous verbs, that God would save them. The promises all turned out to be true. Every year at our seders, we celebrate these five verbs of redemption through the four cups of wine and the fifth cup for Elijah and Miriam. Famously, however, the Hebrew slaves who were the intended audience for this reassurance could not take it in. Why not? Because of Abraham Maslow. In 1943 Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist

January 14, 2023

How do we think and talk about Israel now as its new government (In Israel, a Hard-Right Agenda Gains Steam. Patrick Kingsley, NY Times, 1/11/23) takes power? Here are five options. Do not think and talk about Israel. It is too upsetting. It is too much. We have our hands full. There are synagogues and rabbis who do not talk about Israel because it is too divisive. Protest and/or boycott members of the governing coalition whose words and policies are anti-democratic and anti-pluralistic. More than 330 American rabbis signed a letter doing just that. Improve your Hebrew so that you can follow contemporary Israeli discourse in Hebrew. As Danny Gordis points out, there is far more nuance, complexity, and movement within Israel than is reported in English newspapers, and we should have humility before giving up on an eternal homeland whose language we do not speak and read fluently. Words matter. Sound the alarm, eschew complacency, for the many red lines that violent words from newl

January 7, 2022