Ki Tisa 5771: The Land and Idol Worship
“Justice, justice shall you pursue” The Torah commands us to behave justly. It’s not enough to follow the strict letter of the law if that would lead to an injustice. I was at the site of the...
View ArticleYom Yerushalayim 5771
Tuesday night, May 31, the 28th of Iyar on the Jewish calendar, we mark Yom Yerushalayim, “Jerusalem Day,” the day (on the Jewish calendar) when Jerusalem was reunited in 1967. Last year I wrote...
View ArticleA Jewish View of Jesus
A few days ago Christians around the world celebrated the birthday of a Jewish boy from Bethlehem — Jesus (in Hebrew “Yeshu”) — a religious figure revered by nearly half the world’s population: two...
View ArticleHillel vs Jesus: Jewish and Christian Approaches to Ethics
Hillel and Jesus had very different approaches to business ethics. Jesus’s approach is more radical and ambitious; Hillel’s approach is more pragmatic (and in my opinion, likelier to succeed). Those...
View ArticleThe Jewish Roots of Thanksgiving
Sermon delivered at the Southside Faith Community Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration at St. Mary’s on the Highlands Episcopal Church, Birmingham, Alabama, November 21, 2017. Nowadays, Thanksgiving...
View Article