Judaism for the Thinking Person

Did a Shabbat Prayer Predict the Solution to the Whale Mystery?

The Shabbat Service contains a series of mostly silent prayers --leading up to the Shema -- in which we are asked to listen to the songs in Nature as a reality, not as a metaphor.  One of these beautiful paragraphs states, "If only our mouths were filled with song like the sea..." preparing us to fill our mouths with the Shema.  Have you heard the latest news of scientists' attempting to solve the past decade's string of enigmatic whale suicides?  At the end of this short teaching, you'll hear Becky Henning singing this normally silent prayer in the background.

Prayer and Sacrifice: Coming Close to God through a Proper Consciousness of Nature and our Words

Listen as I teach a student about the real meaning of the famous cliche that "Prayer Replaces Sacrifice."  What are the thematic and social connections between the two?  How do we actually learn the silences needed to make the words real?  What is the connection between Being in the Present Moment and Constructing our World with words?

Free to Love: A Halakhic Teacing in Honor of LGBTQ Pride Day

What does an obscure Talmudic debate about freeing slaves have to do with the gay pride parade?  Find out in this short teaching, concluding with Cantor Sara singing Steven Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns."

From Fear to Flirtation: My View of Why We Read the Song of Songs at the end of Pesach

Along with an impromptu Ofra Haza song from Shir ha-Shirim by Sharna, I explain why we read the erotic love poetry of the Song of Songs to conclude Pesach in this introduction to Yizkor. (In my remarks, I connect the Kabbalistic sefirah of "hod" (splendor) with the Hebrew words "hoda'ah" (acknowledgement) and "todah" (thanks) and therefore relate it to gratitude, but please note that this is a Hasidic connection, not a philological one. The words are not from the same root, they just sound similar.)

A Sense of Justice: The Origin of the Drops of Wine at the Seder

The origin of taking out ten or sixteen drops of wine from our cups at the Seder while reciting the 10 Plagues has a fascinating origin.  Is it worth recovering?  I think so, and I connect it to the support for both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders across the electorate today, as well as connect it to the custom of chanting Aleinu at the end of every service.

What is Freedom? The Four Questions as Satire

Want a thought to generate discussion and personal  reflection at the Seder?   There aren't four questions in the Haggadah.  There is only question, just as the Talmud insists.  There are four answers.  Two are serious.  Two are satire.  Do you know the difference?  If you do, you know what Freedom is.

What any Non-Jew (and especially teachers) Should Know About Judaism

My lecture recorded at Palomar College to future teachers and social workers.  What should a non-Jew understand about Judaism, its history and sensitivities, its overall character, and how Jews see themselves? 

THERE IS A COMPANION TEXT FOR THIS LECTURE which has the main points written out.   It is listed as a "page" you can view in the margin.

Satan, The Voice of Failure, and Sinning Against Yourself

According to the Talmud, during the Rosh Hashanah service, the Heavenly Court is meeting, Satan is the prosecuting attorney, God the merciful judge is presiding, and the shofar blast interrupts Satan.  Is this happening in the sky somewhere, or as the Sages intended, IS IT HAPPENING INSIDE OF YOU?

Why do we sing a mystical prayer about God's light when we take out the Torah? And why does God need a Menorah?

Ki Tissa: The Sin of Building Synagogues for Others to Use; and the Irony of "Holy for YOU!"

In this parashah, we have the basis for metaphor of marriage to understand our covenant.  The covenant of marriage is about participating in a marriage, not saying you bought a house and provided material things and then your job is done.  In the parashah, God interrupts the instructions for building the sanctuary and emphasizes the use of the sanctuary for Shabbat and holidays and the activities within: the building is nothing but a means toward manifesting God in the activities.  God doesn't "live" there when we are not there, appreciative of the house we built for God!  The latter thinking, that God is in space, is actually the sin of the Golden Calf:  when God is in space, the building is important.  When God exists in time, then the activities are important. When we build synagogues for others to use and not ourselves, we are committing the sin of the golden calf which is believing holiness is in the house and not in our fidelity through participating within it.  There is no mythical Jewish Wayfarer on the street in need of a shul, or some Holocaust refugee needing a shul because theirs was burnt down, so that we must build it for them and leave.  We must participate in the life the synagogue ourselves or we commit the sin of the golden calf.  In an interesting twist on the whole idea of holiness, "holy" is also a word to describe things that are off limits to us, like the holy incense (in the parashah preceding the Golden Calf incident) and the holy First Fruits and tithes (listed right after the Golden Calf incident).  I provide a twist on Rav Hisda's Talmudic teaching that when you don't actively keep the Sabbath, everything you touch becomes "holy," meaning you shouldn't have anything to do with them ever again.  When you build a synagogue but won't keep Shabbat, you've made it so "holy" that you never have anything to do with it again.  I use Yesheyahu Leibovitz to make the point.