Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson

"Live today, forget the cares of the past" advises a poster popular in the late 1970s. Rather than spending too much time dwelling on what has already happened, rather than squandering the present obsessing over the future, a steady stream of self-help books tell us to concentrate on today, to...

Like all Jewish festivals, Passover has its roots in Jewish history, in our connection to creation and in the rich spiritual and moral values of Judaism.

Agriculturally, Pesach (Passover) is a festival of the spring, a time of rebirth and of hope. In the spring, plants re-emerge in the full...

I want to share a story. It could be an old Hasidic story, except that it happened to me. In my house, Shabbat is a 3-day preparation. We start avoiding it Wednesday night, and we try not to talk about it Thursday night, as well. The pressure finally builds, so...

As the voters of the United States recommence the process of electing the next President, it is important to recall our core values. Liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans may legitimately differ on how best to implement those values, but clarifying what values remain our bedrock is the first step...

Judaism understands love to be covenantal -- the dynamic and persistent integration of the inner emotion/virtues of affection, empathy, desire, yearning and delight with deeds of tzedek (justice), shalom (wholeness/integrity) and berakhah (blessing/wellbeing).

That definition is a mouthful, and it will reward us to analyze it's component parts in turn....

It is common among Jews to assume that Thanksgiving is really a Jewish holiday. Quoting nameless "historians," website after website notes that the inspiration for the Pilgrim's thanksgiving feast was the Biblical Festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles) -- a fall festival that expresses gratitude for the harvest, for the land, and...

On Oct. 11, Israel's government made international headlines when it agreed to release more than 1,000 violent prisoners to obtain the release of Sergeant Gilad Shalit, who had been kidnapped and held hostage by Hamas for more than 5 years (without any of the rights granted under the Geneva Convention...

Perhaps it's a reward for surviving the austerity of Rosh Hashanah and clocking in an entire day of services for Yom Kippur, because those holy days are beautiful, but tough. Turns out, though, that the Bible's best holiday follows immediately afterward: the Festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles). The food is great,...

"Six years you shall sow your land and gather its fruits. But in the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie still; so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat, and in like manner shall you...

During this sacred season, Jews around the world will focus on Rosh Ha-Shanah, the renewed year, and Yom Kippur, a day of introspection. These ancient holidays celebrate the planet and its capacity to sustain, and our interiority and its capacity to renew. These gifts are not ours as solitary individuals,...