Tag: God
On being Called to Celebrate Difference
"Sh'ma Israel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad!" (Deut. 6:4) "Hear o Israel the Lord our god the Lord is One". This sentence is probably the one most known by Jews. We say it when we get up, during the da... Read More
‘A Voice Calling in the Desert’: Personal Reflections on the Concept of Vocation in the Jewish Clergy
This week we begin a new book in our annual cycle of public Torah reading in the synagogue. We turn to Leviticus, which begins with words that are at once evocate and ambiguous: “And He called unto ... Read More
Do You Accept the Seder Orange?
Many artists will tell you: limits foster creativity. Staring at a blank canvas or a blinking cursor on a white screen can be agonizing, but throw some boundaries around your space (mental or otherwis... Read More
The Night Watch – Psalm 121 and the Practice of Sleep
Over my son, Azriel’s, crib is a richly decorated, laminated legal-size sheet of cardstock on which is printed the Hebrew text of Psalm 121. Before it occupied its current post, it hung over my wife... Read More
Interfaith Winter Reading
I am in love with every Church and Mosque and Temple and any kind of Shrine Because I know it is there that people say the different names of the one God. — Hafiz As a seminarian d... Read More
Theology of Failure, pt. 3
When I began seminary, I learned that the Gospel of Mark originally ended without Jesus coming back. Check the footnotes on Mark 16. Verses 9-20 were tacked on to resolve a confusing and terrible st... Read More
‘Nothing is Secret from You’ – A Jewish Objection to Government Surveillance
Each day, in the siddur, the Jewish prayer book, I read a small prayer authored by the 3rd century Babylonian sage Rav. In a discussion of what Jews need to say when we confess, Rav writes the follow... Read More
The Crumbling Argument against Women’s Ordination
Opponents of female ordination have an arsenal of arguments against allowing women into the ministry. One of the most well-worn comes from the Pastoral Epistles, likely written by a disciple of Paulâ€... Read More