Did you ever consider the Jewish origins of New Year’s? For Jews the eighth day after the birth of a son is brit milah, the festive welcome into covenant and community. The Jewish origin of New Year’s celebration often goes unnoticed, but it is there. Although Christians differ on the date of Christmas, so that for Orthodox Christians the date is January…

“The Right to be Different” Sages of the Talmud asked Mai Hanukkah? What is Hanukkah? It is a surprising question. For the question, arising in the context of a discussion on Shabbat wicks, occurred well over a hundred years after the Maccabee’s successful revolt. In response, the rabbis introduce the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days. In more contemporaneous accounts of…

Va’Yishlach What does it mean to be “the children of Israel,” as in Congregation B’nai Israel? In this week’s Torah reading, an angel blesses Jacob with that new name. Jacob, Ya’akov, means circumventer. As his name conveys, he has acted with deception in obtaining the first-born blessing from his blind father instead of Esau, the first-born twin. Now on the night before…

Torah: What is the origin and meaning of the word Jew? It comes from Judah, the largest tribe during the Second Temple. Our name conveys qualities of who we are as a people. Leah, Judah’s mother, felt neglected by her husband, who was also married to her younger, more beloved sister, Rachel. Leah’s named her first three sons to fill in a…

Thanksgiving The United States was the first country to offer Jews the right to vote in national elections. Although we endured much discrimination, we simultaneously found opportunity and made great contributions. For most of us, our experience of anti-Semitism differed from that our parents. We have lived openly and proudly in a country of diversity. Remarkably, when the Pew Research Center asked…

VaYera: The huppah [wedding canopy] symbolizes the tent of Abraham and Sarah, the model Jewish home. In the opening verses of this week’s Torah reading, Abraham is sitting at the entrance to his desert tent when he spots strangers. He rushes out to greet them. Bowing, he says, “Please my master, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass from before your…

Lekh L’kha marks a new beginning of an uncharted future. Abram hears a call to go forth to the land that God would show him. At the same time, Canaan is the once sought destination of Abram’s father (Genesis 11:31). Rabbi Wolfe Kelman commented, “There is no greater influence on a child than the unfilled dreams of a parent” and pointed to…

B’reishit The Bible’s creation story conveys vital lessons: the world is good; there is a unifying intentionality in creation; and humans are fashioned in the image of God, with the culminating charge to make time holy. These descriptions of creation are not scientific, but a foundational worldview. Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson writes in  Renewing the Process of Creation (Jewish Lights, 2016) that…