This D’var Torah for Parashat Korach was published in the Detroit Jewish News: The Tallit: A Reminder of Our Relationship With God Hanging in the back of my closet is a beautiful tallit that was hand-woven in Ethiopia. This colorful prayer shawl was purchased by my grandmother several years ago when the renowned “Mitzvah Man”…
All of the speeches at the AIPAC Policy Conference during the past few days went according to script. Every U.S. politician who addressed the 13,000 in attendance weighed in on the threat of a nuclear Iran, enumerated their party’s accomplishments in defending Israel, and reiterated their commitment to the U.S.-Israel relationship. But there was one…
In October 2010 I used the example of Justin Bieber reciting the “Shema Yisrael” Jewish prayer in a blog post about non-Jews performing Jewish rituals. I explained how there were reports that Justin Bieber’s Jewish manager Scott “Scooter” Braun, who discovered Bieber on YouTube, taught Justin the “Shema Yisrael” prayer and he says it before each…
Today is the second day of Rosh Chodesh Tevet, the beginning of the new Jewish month. It is also the seventh day of Hanukkah. That means that the past two mornings have been long, complicated prayer services with Torah readings from two separate Torah scrolls, Hallel (songs of praise for both Hanukkah and Rosh Chodesh),…
Last week I blogged about the role of public prayer in sports. What prompted me to blog about the subject was a Detroit Free Press article in which I was quoted that dealt with the trend of major league baseball players praying and performing various religious-related activities on the sports field like drawing crosses in the…
It was 1998 and I was in my first semester of rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary. My Talmud professor, Rabbi Avram Israel Reisner, approached me after class one day to discuss a project he was working on. As a member of the Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), he was…
This past Friday evening I sat with my family at Adat Shalom Synagogue as we watched a performance by Storahtelling, which is known for its innovative and arts-focused take on the Torah. The Storahtelling performers interpret the themes from the Torah in new ways, acting out a theatrical midrash. In “Like a Prayer,” Storahtelling veterans…
Adon Olam is the quintessential Jewish prayer in perfect meter, which means it can be set to just about any tune. This strictly metrical hymn is sung to end just about every Shabbat morning service which means it is not only popular, but many know the words by heart. I’ve heard hundreds of versions of…
It doesn’t matter that I’m blogging from Berlin because they’re talking about teen pop sensation Justin Bieber and his new movie “Never Say Never” here too. It seems that Bieber’s 29-year-old Jewish manager “Scooter” Braun is working hard to promote his talented young client and his new movie in the media. I was contacted the…
Back in January 2010 a US Airways flight was diverted for the security concerns raised by a Jewish teenage boy putting on tefillin (phylacteries). I blogged about the Kentucky-bound airplane from New York that had to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia because the 17-year-old was wrapping his arm and head with the black leather…