#BringThemHomeNow

Essays


Medium (January 20, 2025)

Medium (January 15, 2025)

Medium (January 13, 2025)
 
Medium (January 9, 2025)

Medium (January 7, 2025)

Times of Israel (January 5, 2025)

Medium (January 3, 2025)

Medium (December 30, 2024)

Times of Israel (December 30, 2024)

Medium (December 27, 2024)

Medium (December 26, 2024)

Medium (December 24, 2024)

Medium (December 23, 2024)

Medium (December 18, 2024)

Times of Israel (December 17, 2024)

Medium (December 13, 2024)

Medium (December 11, 2024)


Times of Israel (December 5, 2024)

Medium (December 4, 2024)


Times of Israel (December 2, 2024)

Medium (November 29, 2024)

Times of Israel (November 26, 2024)

Medium (November 25, 2024)

Medium (November 21, 2024)

Medium (November 20, 2024)


Times of Israel (November 8, 2024)

Medium (November 5, 2024)

Medium (November 4, 2024)

Medium (November 1, 2024)

The Times of Israel (October 31, 2024)

Medium (October 29, 2024)


Medium (October 6, 2024)

Medium (September 27, 2024)

Times of Israel (September 27, 2024)


Times of Israel (September 18, 2024)

Medium (September 18, 2024)

Medium (September 12, 2024)

Medium (September 11, 2024)

Medium (September 11, 2024)

Guardrails of Care (Ki Teitzei) 
Times of Israel (September 11, 2024)

Medium (September 9, 2024)

Medium (September 5, 2024)


Times of Israel (July 16, 2024)

Medium (July 12, 2024)

Medium (July 4, 2024)

The Jewish Theological Seminary of America (July 3, 2024)

Times of Israel (July 1, 2024)

Medium (June 28, 2024)


Medium (June 11, 2024)

Times of Israel (June10, 2024)

Pierced by Names (Bamidbar)
Medium (June 6, 2024)

Counting the Uncountable (Bamidbar)
Medium (June 5, 2024)


Medium (May 31, 2024)

Medium (May 30, 2024)

Letter to the Forward in response to "Whose art is it anyway? Inside the cultural battle between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters"
(May 19, 2024)

Times of Israel (May 8, 2024)

Medium (March 25, 2024)

Medium (December 24, 2023)

Medium (September 8, 2023)

Times of Israel (September 6, 2023)

Medium (September 5, 2023)

Times of Israel (August 28, 2023)

Medium (August 15, 2023)


MyJewishLearning (June 23, 2023)

Times of Israel (June 22, 2023)



Medium (April 27, 2023)

Medium (April 25, 2023)

Medium (April 24, 2023)

Medium (April 21, 2023)

Times of Israel (April 17, 2023)

Medium (April 16, 2023)

Times of Israel (March 15, 2023)

Medium (March 14, 2023)

Times of Israel (March 6, 2023)

Times of Israel (Feb. 27, 2023)

Times of Israel (Feb. 23, 2023)

Medium (Dec. 14, 2022)

Times of Israel (Dec. 8, 2022)

Medium (Dec. 7, 2022)

How much light? A Hannukah Meditation
Times of Israel (Nov. 29, 2022)

Times of Israel (Nov. 28, 2022)

Medium (Nov. 27, 2022)

Medium (Nov. 15, 2022)

VaYera: Seeing Each Other
Medium (Nov. 7, 2022)

Times of Israel (Nov. 7, 2022)


Lech Lecha: Can One Land Support a Family?
Times of Israel (Nov. 2, 2022)

Times of Israel (October 26, 2022)

Medium (October 25, 2022)

Medium (October 9, 2022)

UJA-Federation NY (Rosh HaShanah 5783/2022)

Medium (Aug. 26, 2022)

Eikev: Healthy Love
Times of Israel (Aug. 15, 2022)

Medium (Aug. 14, 2022)

(July 25, 2022)

The Jewish Daily Forward (July 6, 2022)

Tilting at Windmills in Good Faith
The Times of Israel (June 26, 2022)

MyJewishLearning.com (September 18, 2021)

(August 29, 2021)
  
Watching comedy (sort of) on Tisha Be'Av
The Times of Israel (July 19, 2021)

NY Jewish Week (January 20, 2021)

JTA (January 7, 2021)

With Eyes Wide Open: Disney/Pixar's 'Soul'
The Times of Israel (December 27, 2020)

Closer, Come Closer
Medium (December 21, 2020)

The Possible Blessings of Encounter (VaYigash)
The Times of Israel (December 21, 2020)

MyJewishLearning.com (November 25, 2020)

We Acquitted Ourselves Nobly: High Holidays 5781
The Times of Israel (September 29, 2020)

New York Jewish Week (September 16, 2020)

MyJewishLearning.com (August 25, 2020)

When We Turned Within
 with Sarah Tuttle-Singer
The Times of Israel (June 11, 2020)

 The Times of Israel (December 1, 2019)

Splitting the Sea of Red
The Times of Israel (April 28, 2019)

 The Sacrificial Call: VaYikra
The Times of Israel (March 11, 2019)

 What to do as a Progressive AIPAC Supporter?
The Times of Israel (February 27, 2019)

Always For and Sometimes Within
The Times of Israel (February 13, 2019)

 To the Left and to the Right: Two Truths for Jews
The Times of Israel (January 14, 2019)

 Mythic Method: A Rabbinic Comment on Doctor Who
The Times of Israel (December 13, 2018)

 Intersectionality and the Women’s March: A Thought
The Times of Israel (November 21, 2018)

 After Pittsburgh, We Must Remember
The Times of Israel (October 31, 2018)

 Redemption in a Mighty Rumpus
The Times of Israel (July 3, 2018)

 Diving for Hidden Treasure: Exodus, Liberation, and Light
Huffington Post (January 8, 2018)

 On Being a Man in a #MeToo World
Huffington Post (December 21, 2017)

 Parashat VaYera: Which Fire Will it Be?
The Times of Israel (October 29, 2017)

 Parashat Noach: It Will Be Good
The Times of Israel (October 18, 2017)

The Deepest Thing Inside (Yom Kippur 5778/2017)
The Times of Israel (September 30, 2017)

 The Day After Charlottesville
The Huffington Post​ (August 14, 2017)

Among the Mourners of Zion
The Huffington Post​ (July 25, 2017)

Tears, Free-Flowing Tears
The Times of Israel (July 23, 2017)

 My Souvenir Prophet
The Times of Israel (July 17, 2017)

 Attacked from Within
The Huffington Post​ (July 11, 2017)

On Independence: Freedom For
The Huffington Post​ (July 4, 2017)

On the Outside Looking In: Reflections of a Jew Wounded by Israel
The Huffington Post​ (June 27, 2017)

A Very Bad, No-Good, Rotten Day for Zionism
The Huffington Post​ (June 25, 2017)

 When it All Comes Together
The Times of Israel (June 20, 2017)

 Driving to Shul on Shabbat & Holiness
The Times of Israel (May 11, 2017)

 Why is Moses Kept Out of the Tabernacle?
myjewishlearning.com (March 9, 2017)

 Joyfully Answering the Call
The Times of Israel (March 1, 2017)

 Honor Our Dead. Build on Love.
The Huffington Post​ (Feb. 26 2017)

Now. Tomorrow. And the Day After
The Huffington Post​ (Jan. 12, 2017)

Joyless Justice: The Death Penalty and the Charleston Church Murderer
The Huffington Post​ (Jan. 10, 2017)

 Abundant Love: The Wisdom of Jacob
myjewishlearning.com (Jan. 6, 2017)

 This We Do Not Bless: Reach Higher, Rabbi Hier
The Times of Israel (Jan. 3, 2017)

 Anger in a Pre-Trump American Zionist: A Rabbinic Response to the Obama Administration’s UN Abstention
The Huffington Post​ (Dec. 28, 2016)

 We Don't Have the Words (Ki Tavo)
The Times of Israel (Sept. 22, 2016)

 This Election: The Difference Between Terence Crutcher and You
The Huffington Post​ (Sept. 21, 2016)

We Must Elect Hillary Clinton as President of the United States
The Huffington Post​ (Aug. 25, 2016)

 Gold Gestapo Gun is Headed to Auction
The Jewish Daily Forward (August 17, 2016)

Jerusalem Sits Alone: Tisha Be'Av at the Olympics
Times of Israel (Aug. 12, 2016)

A Wounded Friend: A Rabbinic Response to the New Black Lives Matter Platform 
The Huffington Post​ (Aug. 5, 2016)

 No Room for Hate in America 
The Huffington Post​ (July 19, 2016)

 Channeling the power of Faith to End Gun Violence
with Eileen Soffer
The Jewish Daily Forward (July 18, 2016)

 Choose life, says Torah — not guns
with Eileen Soffer
J Weekly (July 14, 2016)

A Note From Camp Ramah, A Heart In Israel
The Huffington Post (July 6, 2016)

 The Eyes of Chovav (BeHa'alotecha)
The Times of Israel (May 31, 2016)

 How Bend the Arc is Fighting Donald Trump
The Jewish Daily Forward (May 22, 2016)

 Our Testimony: A Yom HaShoah Message 
The Times of Israel (May 5, 2016)

 These Are Dark Days for America 
The Huffington Post Politics​ (May 3, 2016)

The Way Forward
Sh'ma Journal (April 15, 2016)
download the entire PDF here

offered at the US Capitol Building as part of the Fact Coalition/JubileeUSA Tax and Transparency Days
April 11, 2016

Judaism, Race, and Law (audio)
offered at the SF JCRC Town Hall on "Race and Law" (April 7, 2016)

My Zionism (audio)
offered at the East Bay Hadassah Annual Meeting (April 3, 2016)
The Huffington Post Politics (March 14, 2016)

 Open to Wonder: Parashat #Pekudei
Times of Israel (February 29, 2016)

Success at the Kotel Comes at a Cost
Times of Israel (February 2, 2016)

 Must it be Armageddon?
Times of Israel (January 7, 2016)

 An Intention for Hope in the New Year
Huffington Post Religion (Dec. 29, 2015)

The Threat of Serenity
Huffington Post Religion (Nov. 30, 2015)

 Black Lives Matter and the Beauty of Israel: Working on Both With One Soul
Huffington Post Politics (Nov. 25, 2015)

Bound and Blessed (Again) (Toldot)
Times of Israel (November 10, 2015)

 The Blessed Burden (Chayei Sarah)
Times of Israel (November 2, 2015)

Silence: A Blessing or a Danger?
with Shalom Bayit Executive Director Naomi Tucker
J Weekly (Oct. 23, 2015)

A Real Response to Israel-Hatred: Love
Huffington Post Politics (Oct. 22, 2015)

 Praying for Israel During Troubled Times
Huffington Post Politics (October 14, 2015)

 This is Not a Million Man March
Times of Israel (October 12, 2015)

 Alone, Together (Yom Kippur 2015)
Times of Israel (September 24, 2015)

 Falafel Hebrew, Crackling Tanks, and Burning Coals
Times of Israel (July 13, 2015)

 'A girl named Jerusalem: Seeking Asylum in Tel Aviv
Times of Israel (July 7, 2015)

 Too Busy Protecting Israel from Delegitimization to Protect Ourselves from Israel's Delegitimization of Us?
Times of Israel (July 5, 2015)

 Our Broken Society, My Broken Heart: A Rabbi on a Jury
J Weekly (June 18, 2015)

 We Must Rebuild God's House by Saving Each Other's: A Spiritual Response to Charleston
Huffington Post (June 18, 2015)

 The Rabbinic Imperative to Confront American Gun Violence
Times of Israel (June 11, 2015)

 Becoming Neighbors: A Jewish Vision of Social Justice
Huffington Post (June 8, 2015)

 Gun Violence is a Moral Problem
Huffington Post (April 20, 2015)

 For Zion's Sake I Will Not Keep Silent 
Huffington Post (March 17, 2015)

 Money and Shabbat
Huffington Post (February 25, 2015)

 No Rest for the Righteous
Times of Israel (December 8, 2014)
 
After a Rainstorm of Voter Disenfranchisement in 2014, Congress Must Restore the Voting Rights Act
co-authored with Bend the Arc CEO Stosh Cotler
Roll Call (November 20, 2014)

 We Cry as Family
Times of Israel (November 18, 2014)

 The Uncertain Woods of Faith
Huffington Post (October 26, 2014)

 Ferguson is Not Gaza
Huffington Post Politics Blog (October 15, 2014)

Why Rabbi Gil Steinlauf's Coming Out Is Watershed Moment for Jews
The Jewish Daily Forward (October 7, 2014 )

The Burdens of Memory
Times of Israel (October 6, 2014)
 
White Robes and Infinity
Times of Israel (October 2, 2014)

Intense Beginnings
Huffington Post (September 14, 2014)

 A Battered People Once Again
Times of Israel (August 27, 2014)

 Ferguson and Israel
Huffington Post (August 21, 2014)

Never Again is Right Now
Times of Israel (August 20, 2014)
 
Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace
Times of Israel (August 9, 2014)

My Response to the Terror of Missiles and the Terror of Words
Times of Israel (August 4, 2014)
 
Comfort Our People, Compassion for All God's People
(with Rabbi Michael Adam Latz)
Huffington Post (July 30, 2014)

 Do We Stand With Israel?
Huffington Post (July 28, 2014)

 The End of Theory
Times of Israel (July 22, 2014)

 I'm Done Apologizing for Israel
Huffington Post (July 21, 2014)
(republished by the Jewish Forward July 23, 2014)

 The Jewish People Lives
Huffington Post (July 8, 2014)

 A Jewish Perspective on Taxes, Poverty
Courier Post (July 3, 2014)

 A Jew in the World
Huffington Post, (July 2, 2014)

 Army of Angels needed to right tax, poverty woes
The Daily Journal, (June 19, 2014)

On Father' Day, let's End Violence Against Women
The Forward, (June 15, 2014)

”אנחנו הקונסרבטיבים נאבקים למענכם, עמדו גם אתם לצידנו“

 Maariv (June 10, 2014)


Healing Our Abused Jewish Soul
Jerusalem Post (June 2, 2014)

 A Rabbi's Heart Beats Again
Huffington Post (May 16, 2014)

 Children in the Sanctuary
Huffington Post (May 5, 2014)

 Sarah Palin's Heresy
Huffington Post (April 30, 2014)

 Expectations, Despair, and Amazement
Huffington Post (April 25, 2014)

 Human Boundaries and Inclusion
Huffington Post (April 4, 2014)

 The Promise of Redistribution
Huffington Post (March 28, 2014)

Jews and Gun Violence: An Update
Huffington Post (March 14, 2014)

 First Kisses, Intimacy, and Eternity
Huffington Post (March 12, 2014)

 Wrong on 'Partnership Minyanim'
Letter to the New York Jewish Week (March 5, 2014)

 In Search of Concern
Letter to the New York Times (Feb. 23, 2014)

 Leadership: Always for and Sometimes Within
Huffington Post (Feb. 7, 2014)

 "We Believe" - in Ending Violence Against Women
JWeekly (Feb. 7, 2014)

 A Rabbinic Comment on Messianic Politics
Huffington Post (January 22, 2014)

 What Does it Mean?
Huffington Post (January 15, 2014)

Shabbat, a Cellphone, and Jewish Concern
Huffington Post (January 7, 2014)

 A Rabbinic Riff on Capitalism (inspired by J.K. Rowling)
Huffington Post (December 31, 2013)

 A Rabbi's Christmas Thought (for Jewish Parents and Others)
Huffington Post (December 23, 2013)

 Channukah & Thanksgiving: It's Complicated
Huffington Post (November 28, 2013)

 Progress from Process
Zeek (November 4, 2013)

 Dark Wisdom: A Jewish Comment on the Conclusion of Breaking Bad
Huffington Post (September 30, 2013)

 Sukkot Holiday Dvar Tzedek: Ushpizin
American Jewish World Service (Sukkot 2013)

 Yom Kippur 2013/5774: "Restoring the Arc (of A Love Affair)"
Huffington Post (September 16, 2013)

The Eyes Have It
Huffington Post (September 9, 2013)

 All That Matters
Sh'ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility (September 2013)

 What's So High About the High Holidays?
JWeekly (Aug. 29, 2013)

JCPA (Rosh haShannah 2013)
Huffington Post (July 8, 2013)

 I am Not Free When My Sister is Silenced
Women of the Wall (July 8, 2013)

 Sadly, Conservative Judaism’s lead ship is sinking fast
JWeekly (June 20, 2013)

 Eternity Can Wait
Huffington Post (June 19, 2013)

 Found: A Jewish Reflection on Lost
Huffington Post (June 10, 2013)

Legacy and Family: A Hadran for Harry Potter
Huffington Post (May 28, 2013)

What is it about Bedtime
Huffington Post (May 20, 2013)

"A Prayer for Direction", "A Prayer for Health", and "A Prayer for Travel"
in Jewish Men Pray (Jewish Lights, 2013, ed. Olitzky and Matlins)

Dynamic Connections: The Theology of 'The Runaway Bunny'
Huffington Post (May 9, 2013)

A Prayer, Upon Completing My Term as CoChair of Rabbis for Women of the Wall 
Women of the Wall (April 28, 2013)

 Be Like Busch: An Open Letter to the NRA Membership 
(with Rabbi Aaron Alexander, Rabbi Sharon Brous, & Rabbi Ronit Tsadok)
Huffington Post (April 23, 2013)

 A Kavanah Before Eating Fair-Trade Chocolate (Passover)
Fair Trade Judaica (March 2013)

Wandering Toward a Promised Land
Sh'ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility (Jan.2013)

 A Prayer in Wake of a School Shooting
The Rabbinical Assembly (Dec. 14, 2012)

 A Kavanah Before Eating Fair-Trade Chocolate (Channukah)
Fair Trade Judaica (Nov. 2012)

A Prayer in the Aftermath of a Devastating Storm
The Rabbinical Assembly (Oct. 31, 2012)



 Within our Hearts: The Holy of Holies
Sh'ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility (March, 2012)

Shmot 2012: "A World Without Children's Voices"
The Daily Rabbi (January 2012)

Yes, An Orthodox Rabbi Can 'Do' a Commitment Ceremony
(with Rabbi Jason Miller)
The Huffington Post (December 16, 2011)

Sermon on the Mount: A Midrash on the Akeidah
Sh'ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility (August, 2011)

Jews and Others: A Conversation with JTS Chancellor Arnold Eisen
JTS Conservative Judaism Blog (August, 2011)

Upon the Death of an Enemy
The Daily Rabbi (May 2, 2011)

Kedoshim: Intense and Holy
The Daily Rabbi (April 2011)

I am Not You: An Exchange of Letters (with Rabbi Stuart Kelman)
Sh'ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility (January, 2011)

Righteousness, Justice, and Reuben Fulfilled
Truah: Rabbis for Human Rights (December, 2010)

The Choice to Include
JewsByChoice.org (Nov. 16, 2010)

Zionism Also Needs to Come from the Left - Right?
The "J" (Nov. 4, 2010)

Safe Jewish Homes
Conversations: The Journal of The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals
(Issue 8; Autumn 2010/5771; "Orthodoxy and Ethics")

The Narrowing of the Israeli Mindset
The "J" (March 4, 2010)

The Necessity of Windows
a chapter in Torah Queeries (NYU, 2009)

Living in the Dream: An Integrated Life
Walking with Life: The Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies (Summer 2009)

Conservative Judaism and Denominationalism
Gevanim: The Journal of the Academy of Jewish Religion (Vol. 5, Summer 2009)

The Revelation of an Embrace: A Vision of Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism (Vol. 61, Fall/Winter 2008-09)

Creating Spiritual Prayer
CJ: Voices of Conservative/Masorti Judaism (Fall 2008)

Marriage Ruling is About Universal Human Dignity 
The "J" (May 23, 2008)

Toward a Hopeful Judaism
The New York Jewish Week (3/3/07)

In Defense of Jingle Bells
The New York Jewish Week (12/22/06)

God's Loneliness
Jewels of Elul II (Summer 2006)

Sustained Innovation
Sh'ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility (June 2006)

Pesach: Excessive Freedom
The UJC Rabbinic Orchard (Spring 2005)

White Robes and Infinity
The UJC Rabbinic Orchard (Fall 2004)

 Parashat VaYeira: Seeing the Other (senior sermon)
Sh'ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility Blog

Akeidat haMa'achelet / The Binding of the Knife
Living Text: The Journal of Contemporary Midrash (1999, Vol #5)
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