A German-Trained American Rabbi in Yorkshire

There are moments in our liturgy that can pass so swiftly and easily that we barely give them a glance.  One such moment passed recently during Pessach shacharit the morning after our Seder.  During the Musaf we add a special prayer said once a year that is echoed in a similar prayer also said once a year after Sukkot. “With the knowledge of the Eternal I will speak of secrets / That for this people, by this prayer / There may be joy in dew / May the valley and its flora / be renewed through dew / Flourishing anew under the shade of the Eternal / Sign of regeneration / Shield of future generations: dew.” After we speak this poem and the accompanying blessing, we change our daily prayers.  A line in the Amida changes from “mashiv haruach u’morid hagashem,” “You make the wind blow and the rain fall,” to “morid hatal,” “You cause the dew to fall.”  This will once again switch back during the morning service of Shemini Atzeret, the “Eighth Day of Gathering” of Sukko...

I wanted to add a few comments to the article that was published by “Die Zeit ” this Passover/Easter weekend: First of all, I am deeply grateful for the article— its breadth and its general positivity. Since I moved to Europe, most times when I have seen any article about Judaism in anything larger than a standard news item, the cover picture is that of the Exotic Jew – black hat, payot – which although represents a percentage of Jewry, is not in anyway representative of all or even the majority of Jewry. This article represents hope, as it is a different portrayal within a deeply complex society. That being said, from comments I have read and already received, I would like to comment specifically on one quote in the article that needs clarification and expansion. Frau Jeska and I spoke at length on a variety of topics for most of a day, and naturally complex thoughts needed to be distilled and redacted for the purpose of the space of an article. The comment, ho...

Hi all: I posted my first effort at a french sermon on my other blog HERE . I will try to translate and post the english here in the next day or so. B'shalom!

I would like to offer two stories today – one true and one that is merely filled with truth. The first comes from one of my favorite chassidic tales and relates the story of a father with a rather simple son. During the High Holy Days, he would pray in the synagogue of the Baal Shem Tov, but never would bring his boy with him to pray. Finally when the boy reached the age of Bar Mitzvah, his father took him to the synagogue for the first time, but only out of fear that the boy would out of sheer ignorance eat on the holy fast day. The boy had a flute that he would play while tending the flock. Without his father knowing, he took the flute to shul . All day long the boy sat in silence in the synagogue. During the musaf prayer, the boy whispered to his father, “Father, I want to play my flute.” Terrified, the father spoke sharply and quite harshly to his son and the boy relented. This happened again and again during the minchah service, and each time the f...

I have spent a lot of time this week thinking about the tools of the streams of progressive Judaism—the tools of Wissenschaft des Judentums that have been passed down by our recent sages and handed to us to help redefine how we view our texts and our religious practice. The question I have is if the scientific tools that we have been given – textual and narrative criticism, scientific study of history, archeology, etc. are appropriate parts of the rabbinical tool chest to help elucidate our weekly readings and teachings. Do they have any place in the attempt to address the spiritual and existential needs of a congregation? Can they help at all in the process of tikkun olam – repairing the world? And then I came to this passage in the current weekly reading from Bamidbar, Parashat Masei: 33:50 The Eternal spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. He said: 33:51 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you have crossed t...

(Translated from the German -- original version here .) It was our great teacher, Rav Indiana Jones, that first taught me and many other members of Beis Hollywood about the Ark of the Covenant. As a matter of fact, the film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” seems to offer a variety of insights into the nature of the Holy Ark. For example—we are taught that it is powerful, that it can destroy entire armies, that it is so mysterious and awesome that it gets a special moment of John Williams soundtrack when the Ark is discussed – and – that the Ark is today hidden away in some secret CIA warehouse. OK – perhaps all of these points aren’t really to be found in Torah. But there nonetheless seems to be a spark of truth behind the Beis Hollywood drama. We read in Parashat Terumah about the construction of the Ark of the Covenant—its material, its size and so forth, and then we come upon: (Exodus) 25:18 You are to make two cherubim of gold; you are to make them of hammered metal on the two ends o...