When I was in college, I was in a Greek house, a co-ed fraternity. In some ways my experience was unusual (there aren’t many co-ed fraternities out there) and in other ways my experience was typical (rushing, pledging, and partying). Looking back, I find the most lasting lessons of this experience involve leadership. I had… Read more »

This week’s Torah Portion is Be’haalotcha. This translates to “in his arising/going up.” This Parashah has a lot in it. I want to focus on the problems that are encountered this week. The people became unsatisfied and complained again! They remembered the great food they ate in Egypt and wanted the meat, fish, leeks, etc…. Read more »

I want to begin this week with GRATITUDE for everyone involved in our Gala and especially Janet Rosenblum and Avia Rosen! We have had an enormous amount of fun and reached amazing milestones. The dedication of the entire Development department is beyond description and measure. Avia and Janet, thank you for leading the charge and… Read more »

This week marks the beginning of a personal transition as I enter my final semester of rabbinical school. While exciting and full of purpose, this moment is also fraught with uncertainty and anxiety. I recognize this space of questioning and internal strife and it feels all too familiar; it is not the first time I… Read more »

n one of my groups this week, we looked at the opening passages of this week’s Parasha, Vaera, in which God appears to Moses, explaining that, while our ancestors knew God by the name “El-Shaddai,” Moses will know God by the name “Adonai.” I asked the people in the group why they thought God would need… Read more »

Of all the rich imagery and noteworthy scenes in this week’s parsha, the beginning of the book of Exodus, there’s one in particular which is at the forefront of my mind. After Pharaoh’s edict to have all newborn males killed, Moses’ mother, unable to bear what will become of her son, places him in a… Read more »

As Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker in Marvel’s Spiderman: “With great power comes great responsibility.” While most of us have not been bitten by radioactive spiders and granted the special abilities of Spiderman, we still each have the opportunity to find ourselves in positions of power. Sometimes this power comes from a job or… Read more »