The Source of Moral Virtue
It is as predictable as sunrise. At roughly this time of the year, someone claims the mantle of religious authority in order to announce that Avraham "failed" the test of the Akeidah, of sacrificing his son. Why? Because, the speaker insists, Avraham should have told...
Out of the Comfort Zone
Do you like your house? “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.” It is human nature to find comfort in familiar surroundings, friends and neighbors, even habits.
A Call for Unity
In this week's Torah reading, humanity engages in two different sorts of evil. One generation becomes rife with theft and immorality, and the population is wiped out. Then a later generation unites to rebel against G-d, and G-d confuses their languages and divides...
Come Rest with Us!
This week, we begin a new cycle of reading the Torah. The Torah begins, of course, by describing G-d's Creation of Heaven and Earth. And at the end, He rested. G-d, of course, did not need to rest. The Almighty, Creator of time itself, has no need for time off -- and...
Ask Me Next Year
Taking the lesson encapsulated in Rabbi Winiarz’s words, let’s first think back over last year. How did we do? Did we grow? Did we meet our goals? Or did we quickly slip back into old patterns? Then we can think about what we should be asking for, praying for, and working towards — so that when we look back next year, we feel accomplished.
We Need to Do More
Prior to Rosh Hashanah, we read the Torah portion of Nitzavim, "standing." This comes from the first verse: "You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God, your heads, your tribes, your elders and your guards, every person of Israel" [29:9]. It is the...
