I’m sure the sad story of disgraced football coach Jerry Sandusky will be made into a movie
President Bush’s statement on the passing of Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesenthal: Laura and I are saddened by the death of Simon Wiesenthal, a tireless and passionate advocate who devoted his life to tracking down Nazi killers and promoting freedom. Simon Wiesenthal lost 89 relatives in the Holocaust, yet he survived the death camps himself. He…
I have long been an opponent of gambling. A decade ago I wrote a letter to the Michigan Daily newspaper about the consequences gambling addicts face and why it’s praiseworthy to try to deter young people from gambling. Here are some further thoughts about gambling in Jewish law and its moral prohibitions. A fastidious hermeneutic…
I have been in West Bloomfield, Michigan since Wednesday for the extended Thanksgiving weekend, and this Shabbat morning at Congregation B’nai Israel I heard my classmate and colleague, Rabbi Eric Yanoff, deliver a brilliant sermon on the movie “Borat.” Using a Rashi commentary on the section of Parshat Toldot in which Jacob seemingly dupes his…
The new OyBaby 2 DVD features a cameo appearances by my (almost) 2-year-old son Joshua as the credits roll at the end of the video. There will be a print ad that will be appearing next month in Hadassah Magazine. The “credits kids” make up the border of the ad, which features the headline: 10,000…
Dear Elissa and Jason, A hearty mazal tov on the birth of your twins. With one a little boy and the other a little girl, you are a picture of polarities in balance. I would expect nothing less from a Conservative rabbi. May they both be a source of unending joy for you. Ismar Schorsch…
Much progress has been made to the new synagogue being built in Leesburg, Virginia. Dan Tully, our congregant and skilled architect/builder took this photo while flying overhead in his plane. Check back to see more recent photos soon. The house at the top of the photo (in which I attended a Building Committee meeting last…