Over the last few months, I’ve been paying visits to SCI-Phoenix, the maximum security prison not far from KI. I go with a small group of volunteers to spend time with Jewish inmates. I generally lead discussions or Shabbat morning services during these visits. Most of the men in the...
This week we announced our theme for the coming year, “My Heart is in the East.” The line comes from a poem written a millennium ago by Yehuda HaLevi, who spent most of his life in Spain. The poem speaks to his connection to the Land of Israel even from...
As we approach the start of a new year, we all feel a great confluence of emotions in our heart: enthusiasm, sadness, angst and pain. We also feel gratitude. While the world is far from perfect, we are fortunate that we can live a life of meaning and find ways...
If you walked past Stephen Nedoroscik on the street you probably would not think too much of him. A nebbish, bespectacled young man with a goofy smile and curly brown hair, he certainly doesn’t conjure thoughts of an all-time athlete. You wouldn’t think: ‘There goes a superhero.’ But Stephen is...
The world feels like it’s falling apart. There are divisions along every possible line of our society: racial, religious, geographic, political and the list continues. Everywhere we look there’s separation: college campuses, congress, along generational lines and regional borders. We feel these rifts in ways that are real. Our heart hurts...
On Sunday, I had the honor of joining with many KI members to take part in a public reading of Frederick Douglass’ iconic essay, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” We joined with neighboring faith communities and, in the shade of a pavilion at Wall Park, read...
I wanted to share with you the remarks I was honored to deliver as the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism launched its nonpartisan Every Voice, Every Vote campaign this week. The campaign is committed to getting minority voices to the ballot box to ensure that all peoples are represented...
We are in the midst of the Counting of the Omer, the forty-nine days that take us from the second day of Passover to Shavuot. We refer to this period as ‘the counting of the Omer.’ It is a literal counting during which, each day, we ourselves grow one day...
In the fall of 1955, Rabbi Bertram Korn stood up at Rosh HaShanah services to deliver an extensive sermon on the state of KI. He spoke of the synagogue expanding its space, a full and active membership, the great impact KI was having on its surrounding community. The congregation was...
The word “Yisrael” means to “struggle with God.” These days we’re struggling with much more than God. We’re struggling with protestors, with media, with a relentless war, with antisemitism and misinformation. If you’re like me, your head is hurting. Your heart is pained. On college campuses (too many to count)...
