A recent article in The Huffington Post described a new phenomenon called a Death Cafe, a place to discuss difficult questions connected to the end of life. This week the front page of the LA Times ran an article called "Passing Thoughts at LA's first Death...

The weeklong Festival of Passover just ended, not with a bang but a whimper. There was no big ritual, no loud family gathering, no singing, no telling the powerful story of our journey out of Egypt, Mitzrayim, the narrow place.

Why not? Maybe because the journey doesn't really end.

Passover...

Earlier this week I had dinner in a very crowded hotel dining room with more than 100 women rabbis at the 124th Annual Conference of the Central Conference of Reform Rabbis. The dinner was sponsored by the Women's Rabbinic Network. I couldn't help but remember an earlier CCAR conference, the...

My daughter, now 24 years old, worked as a volunteer over the inauguration weekend. She also managed to get herself an invitation to the Inaugural Ball. As she set out for the Ball, she texted me a picture. She looked beautiful in a dress she borrowed from me; it was...

We approached the entrance to the Western Wall (Kotel) Plaza a little before 7:00 A.M. on December 14, Rosh Hodesh (the new month of ) Tevet. In my bag was my tallit, the beautiful purple and blue one that was hand woven as a gift from the students and faculty...

Our prayers change as we grow older. We see that clearly in the biblical stories of Jacob, who utters two very different prayers at two important moments in his life. The first was when he was young, as he is running away from home to escape the fury of his...

Anne Lamott's new book describes prayer in three steps: "Help; Thanks; Wow." Others have taught that the secret to a satisfying life is to have an attitude of gratitude.

Psalm 107 begins: Hodu L'Adonai -- "Give thanks to God." At this season of thanksgiving (especially since Hodu is also...

It's hard to believe, but you can be arrested for singing the Sh'ma out loud at the Kotel, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the place that is considered to be the holiest site in the Jewish world. You can be arrested -- if you are a woman. If you are...

This 11th anniversary of 9/11 falls during the month of Elul, the month of preparation for the Jewish New Year. Our work during this time is Cheshbon HaNefesh, an accounting of the soul, as individuals and as a community. Each morning, we hear the sounds of the shofar, the ram's...

This past week marked Tu B'Av, the 15th of the month of Av, a day described in Talmud as a day when the women of Jerusalem would go out to the vineyards in borrowed white dresses to find their life's partners. It is the season to think about weddings and...

This Saturday night is Tisha B'av, the anniversary of the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. Why were the Temples destroyed? The ancient rabbis explain that the First Temple was destroyed because of three things that occurred in it: idolatry, unseemly sexual behavior, and bloodshed. And...

On Saturday night the Jewish holiday of Shavuot begins. It is the anniversary of the giving of Torah at Mt. Sinai. Strange, isn't it, that on the holy day we celebrate the Giving of the Law, we traditionally study a book about breaking the law! We read the Book of...

The Talmud tells us: "We were redeemed from Egypt because of the righteousness of the women of that generation." But it doesn't tell us which women. Which women would it be? Who are the women in the story? The first to be mentioned are Shifra and Puah, the midwives to...

Purim is every child's dream holiday; the story is like a fairy tale. Little girls dress up like Esther; little boys like Mordecai. In synagogues around the world we chant the story from the Scroll of Esther, and boo every time the evil Haman's name appears. It is a wonderful...

The conversation is supposed to begin like this: "Will you forgive me for anything I might have said or done this year that has hurt you?" You are sitting with a friend over coffee, during the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and you ask this question. Not easy....

Every year at our Passover seder we ask four new questions. This year the questions will be prompted by the changes in our world, our fascination with the Arab spring and the courage necessary to take risks for change.

Passover is so powerful because it works on four different...

There's a famous joke that purports to describe the difference between religions. I'll clean it up a little so this can be published:

TAOISM: Bad things happen.
BUDDHISM: If bad things happen, it isn't really bad.
HINDUISM: This bad thing happened before.
ISLAM:...

On this 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, there is much to remember. I remember in particular the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of March 25, 1911, a fire that killed more than 140 workers, most of them Jewish and Italian young women immigrants. This tragedy focused national...

A story is told about a father asking his daughter what she learned in religious school. She answers excitedly: "The rabbi told us the story of how the Jews escaped from Egypt and the evil pharaoh. It was amazing. There was this giant airplane that flew down, and thousands of...

I am with my congregants on a Jewish study tour of Morocco following "the footsteps of Maimonides." There in the old city of Fes is the Kairaouine Mosque, constructed in 857 C.E. and connected to what might be the oldest ongoing university in the world. Maimonides was a student there....