Many people are looking to religion and spirituality during this time of economic uncertainty (a euphemism for recession). The title of a recent article on the Time Magazine website asks: “Is it Okay to Pray for Your 401(k)?” My friend and mentor Rabbi Danny Nevins (dean of the rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary)…
A congregant came up to me during a break in services on Yom Kippur to ask if I’d seen the picture being widely emailed of a synagogue marquee that instructed congregants to vote for Barack Obama. She explained that the sign said “Happy New Year! Please vote for the shvartzeh!” I could sense that she…
It has long been a pet peeve of mine that most Reform congregations only observe one day of Rosh Hashanah. According to the Torah, Rosh Hashanah is just one day, but it has been celebrated for two days for over a 1,000 years. With the exception of Yom Kippur an extra day was added to…
The other day I had the chance to listen to Senator Barack Obama on a conference call for American rabbis. The most impressive part of the phone call was not the Democratic Presidential nominee’s ten minute talk. Rather, it was a rabbi who spoke on the call before Obama. Rabbi Elliot Dorff (right) of the…
It’s been almost two months since my last post due to a combination of being too busy and not really wanting to blog about politics. It seems that everything is being overly-politicized right now. A simple rally to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations has turned into a Democrat vs. Republican battle…
Poking fun of religious groups through stereotypes can be very funny. Sometimes it can be very not-funny. Last night I saw the Second City show “Jewsical the Musical” in Novi, Michigan (outside of Detroit). Jewsical claims to be a “hilarious blend of classic Second City sketches and songs, along with new material all providing an…
The five week hiatus since my last blog post might be the longest dry spot I’ve had since starting this blog almost five years ago. But I have a good excuse — I’ve been working at Camp Tamarack all summer. As the camp rabbi I’ve fielded many questions, but by far the most common question…
I haven’t posted in a while as I’ve been busy working at Camp Tamarack, getting ready for the campers to arrive later this month. However, I couldn’t resist commenting on S.L. Price’s wonderful column in the June 2, 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated titled “Seafood for Thought”. Yesterday morning at Shabbat morning services at Tamarack…
My 2-year-old twins Jonah and Talya Miller were supposed to take a nap one afternoon. After I put them in their cribs, instead of falling asleep they started talking to each other. I wondered what the conversation was about so I hid a video camera in their room. Funny stuff! digg this (c) Rabbi Jason…
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