We often try to avoid our own weaknesses. But sometimes we may find if we put the energy into that perceived weakness, and through that added effort, perhaps what we are really trying to avoid, we can transform that which is weaker within us into something that is strong.

A decade ago, when my kids were young, I would hand them each a roll of quarters when we were visiting New York City, instructing them to give to anyone who asked. Of course, I know very well the potential problems with such an approach.

The emergence of practices like "payday" and "predatory" lending deserve the scrutiny of religious leaders and people of faith.

This corporate triage is what lies behind the arrogance of the 1 percent in their treatment of the 99 percent. The result of this triage is societal unrest, instability and an inevitable increase in violence, poverty, disease and war.

I will celebrate Simchat Torah and hear again the chanting of the Creation, look at our tree and pray that the world will come to be what it should be.

Only when we do good together, and see ourselves doing it, will we have hope. God needs us to do this. So does the world.

True repentance means asking forgiveness for all transgressions, both those intended and unintended, and even from those wrong-doings of which a person is not even wholly aware.

Picking corn, I mulled it all over. How sorely disconnected we are from our food from where it comes from, how it's grown, who grows it, even how to cook it to who gets access to it.

What's the chance of running into two Jews at Buckingham Palace and discovering that they are the King and Queen of England? Some curious emerging facts suggest that it could happen.