Shabbat Beshalach

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The Haskalah

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Shabbat Bo

Shabbat Vaeyra

Hearing but not Listening Read more

Litvak or Chassid?

Someone close to me explained why he thought I was so dismissive, particularly of religious views I did not agree with. Read more

Shabbat Shemot 

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Handel’s Messiah

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Shabbat Mikeytz

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A minor fast

Perhaps the least important notable date in the Jewish calendar is the Tenth of Tevet , which occurs ten days after Chanukah. Read more

Shabbat Vayigash

Belief Read more

Chanukah Madness

On the First Night of Chanukah (my spelling), I took a walk down to the memorial at the corner of 5th Avenue and 59th Street in New York (Yes, I am still here), where every year, Chanukah Chabad builds what they claim is the largest Menorah (or Chanukiah) in the world. Read more

Shabbat Miketz

More on Frailty Read more

A different Chanukah

When we talk about being Jewish, we become aware the very term is ambiguous and ill-defined. Read more

Shabbat Vayeyshev

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Excessive Weddings

It has been part of my life as a rabbi to attend weddings; more often than not to “perform.” Read more

Shabbat Vayishlach

Run or stand? Read more

Illusions and Delusions

Those Jews who survived the Second World War were under no illusion that the world cared about them. Read more

Shabbat Vayeytzey

“A wandering Aramean was my father, and he went down to Egypt” (Devarim 26:5). This is a well-known line from the Haggadah of Pesach that we read on the Seder night. But what or, more precisely, to whom is it referring? Read more

The Lost Ark

So many people love conspiracy theories, fantasies, and lost causes. Read more

Shabbat Toldot

Role of Women

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Shabbat Chayey Sarah

Was Hagar Abandoned? Read more

A thought

What is Wrong with Us? Read more

Shabbat Lech Lecha

The Wandering Jew
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Carmel Reunion

I have just returned from a very moving and memorable reunion of pupils of the Jewish Boarding school Carmel College my father founded in 1948 until it closed in 1997. Read more

Shabbat Ki Tavo

Mount Ebal Read more

Shabbat Reay

Tom Lehrer

In Memoriam: 1928-2025 Read more

Shabbat Eykev

The Future

This past Shabbat, as every year before the Fast of Av, is called Shabbat Chazon, and we read the negative Haftarah from the First Chapter of the Book of Yeshayahu (Isaiah). Read more

Shabbat VaEtchanan Nachamu

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