"I envy you Jews," said the young German as he poured my morning coffee.
The year was 1980. I was the guest of a graduate student at Heidelberg University. My stay in his home was part of a month-long trip through Germany with Jews and Christians engaged in "post-Holocaust interfaith...
(19) Comments | Posted March 27, 2012 | 11:04 AM
(12) Comments | Posted October 10, 2011 | 11:51 AM

This is the tale of one city, one Islamic Center and two news stories. An iconic photo, taken a year and a half ago, represents the first story: a plywood sign announcing "Future Site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro," spray painted over with...
(113) Comments | Posted September 16, 2011 | 12:00 PM
While meeting to prepare my taxes, my accountant asked me, "What's new and good in your line of work?" She knows that I am a long time interfaith educator and that in the last few years I have been working in coalitions with members of other faith communities to combat...
(5) Comments | Posted August 17, 2011 | 12:00 PM
What is a rabbi to do?
My inbox this morning includes a petition from my local Jewish Community Relations Council opposing the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations, a request from a Jewish lobby that supports a two state solution and a message from a colleague asking...
(9) Comments | Posted March 15, 2011 | 1:12 PM

In the weeks leading up to the House hearings on "the radicalization of American Muslims," anti-Muslim rhetoric continued apace in some segments of the media. At an Islamic Society of North America dinner in...
(11) Comments | Posted December 20, 2010 | 4:14 PM
When I was a child in the late 1950s, before I was able to read, there was a book in my home called The Family of Man, a compilation of photographs that had recently been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The collection was, as...
(12) Comments | Posted September 10, 2010 | 7:58 PM
This post was co-written with Hussein Rashid.
September 11. The date, the words are still so evocative. Hate, anger, fear, sorrow, loss. Nine years after the event, emotions can still be as intense as they were in 2001. For some Americans, September 11 is the anniversary of their loved one's...
(40) Comments | Posted August 24, 2010 | 3:27 AM
"It's very complex at this point," a Muslim American told the New York Times. The controversy swirling around Park51, the proposed Islamic community center in lower Manhattan is, for some, a difficult issue. But as a Jew, I find the question of my own response simple. The...
(417) Comments | Posted May 21, 2010 | 3:24 AM
Two blocks from Ground Zero -- around the corner from the Glad Tidings Tabernacle and up the street from the Christian Science Reading Room -- stands a former Burlington Coat Factory outlet damaged on September 11th . If all goes as planned, it will soon house Cordoba House, a community...
(1) Comments | Posted April 23, 2010 | 1:18 AM
This Sunday, rain or shine, hundreds of Philadelphians (last year there were 800) from a staggering variety of traditions will spend the afternoon walking together through the streets of their city from one religious institution to the next. At each stop they...
(73) Comments | Posted March 15, 2010 | 2:24 PM
"This is Not a Joke! Do Not Delete!" The email, with its urgent subject heading, found its way to my Inbox through a long series of forwards. The text demanded that I send the message on to at least 10 others, as "a memorial chain for those who died...

(4) Comments | Posted May 11, 2012 | 7:10 AM