After One-Hundred-and-Twenty: Reflecting on Death, Mourning, and the Afterlife in the Jewish Tradition
I know I’m not alone in wrestling with my own mortality. I was asked these questions many times during my rabbinic career as people aged and as loved ones died – but never did I think they related to me personally. Now I find myself looking for answers to these questions, and I’ve found answers in Hillel Halkin’s After One-Hundred-and-Twenty: Reflecting on Death, Mourning, and the Afterlife in the Jewish Tradition.
The Parting Gift
I am approaching my fiftieth wedding anniversary, but I have vague memories from my long-ago youth of what it’s like to fall in love at first sight. Such experiences did not end well for me; neither does the affair portrayed in the story The Parting Gift (Other Press), written by Evan Fallenberg, an Ohio-born writer who now lives in Israel.
Annelies: A Novel
David R. Gillham’s Annelies: A Novel (Viking and Penguin Books) is a fictionalized portrayal of Anne Frank based on the premise that she recovers from her illness in Bergen-Belsen, returns to post-war Amsterdam, and is reunited with her father, Otto, whom she calls Pim.
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah: B’chukotai: Do We Believe that Good Behavior Brings Rewards, and Bad Behavior Punishment?
Does being a person of faith mean you believe in blessings and curses? Why should we always "do the right thing?" Are we rewarded or punished for what we do in the world?
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah: B'midbar: Uniting as One, Despite Our Differences
Like our ancestors, we focus on our own modern day tribes: The tribes of the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, and secular. Amidst our real differences, can we sew ourselves together into a larger identity of being Am Yisrael – one people?
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah: Naso
Do we do things because they bring us meaning, or do things have meaning because we do them? Can your morning yoga class or walk through the park serve as a source of spiritual inspiration?
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah: B'haalot'cha: Gossip
Even with good intentions, when we talk about people who are not present, we run the risk of disparaging them, without giving them the opportunity to respond.
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah – Va-eira: What Do We Really Think About God?`
In the opening lines of this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Va-eira of the Book of Exodus, Moses meets God for the first time.
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah – Sh'mot: Putting Faith into Action
Happy 2018! In our first episode of the secular new year, Rabbi Rick Jacobs welcomes guest host and friend Reverend Frederick A. Davie, Executive Vice President of Union Theological Seminary. Together, they discuss parashat Sh’mot and our individual capacity to drive change in the world.
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah -- Bo: Fighting for Freedom
Parashat Bo features the four famous words, "let my people go,” a refrain for countless communities seeking freedom.