November 4, 1995 was a Saturday. We were living in Jerusalem at the time during my rabbinical school year in Israel. That night, we were sitting around our apartment, talking, reading and relaxing. Around 10pm, our phone rang, which was odd because nobody ever called us. It was the...

I have been wondering lately, "If the earth could talk to us, in our language, what would it be saying? If animals could talk to us in our language, what would they be saying?" As humans, we take pride in our ability to communicate, dialogue and assess issues that face...

The reaction to President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize has been fast and furious. I must say, in all fairness, that I too was a bit surprised to wake up to this news and have been watching the posts on Facebook, as people debate this most interesting choice. There...

Chances are if I say the word 'yawn' to you now, many of you will yawn, including me. Yawn. Now, yawning is not exactly the best way to start a Yom Kippur sermon, but this little experiment is only one of the many examples given by Malcolm Gladwell, the...

There's growing buzz in Washington that President Obama will publicly offer a plan for resuming Middle East peace talks at the opening of the UN General Assembly. Coincidentally, the General Assembly falls right in the middle of the High Holy Days, a time when taking steps toward peace in the...

When I was a rookie rabbi, a decade ago, I wrote a spontaneous, emotion-driven piece about my watching Flight 801 crash into the ocean on CNN, following it from the time it disappeared off radar until they found it three hours later in the ocean. I questioned the morality...

Last week, I wrote about two important events that signaled the Obama Administration's willingness to get serious about supporting Israel in working toward peace with the Palestinians. One was a meeting with Jewish leaders at the White House and the other was a major policy speech by Secretary Clinton, which...

This was a good week for quiet diplomacy in regard to the Middle East. The pundits will say that nothing is happening, or that President Obama is shying away from his goals of a two-state solution, not doing enough to get things moving. However, as is usually the case with...

This has been an emotional week for many here in America and some around the world. Thousands, if not millions, of people have been mourning the death of legendary artist Michael Jackson, literally pouring into the streets in an expression of grief, while our media outlets and bloggers have been...