"Who knows where the time goes?" I think that I do...  ...full story

What’s in a name? A world, a lifetime.......

Those of us blessed with a secure roof above our heads tend to think of Cape Cod as an extraordinarily wonderful place to live...  ...full story

You may feel overwhelmed by the Shoah; you may have little appreciation for worship; you may not wish to confront the kinds of questions to which Shoah-related programs give rise....  ...full story

A contemporary rabbi has suggested that the entire range of Jewish prayer expression may be summed up in just four words....  ...full story

The human olfactory system is a highly complex and sensitive means of reading the world....  ...full story

When the haggadah instructs us to "let all who are hungry come and eat" its meaning is not only literal. There are many in our community who are "hungry" for knowledge of Judaism....  ...full story

One need not be affected by S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) to dread the coming of deep winter and its enfolding darkness...  ...full story

As Hillel taught: "And don’t say, ‘When I have leisure, I will study.’ Perhaps, you never will have that leisure." (Pirkei Avot 2:4)....

I find it an instructive experience, from time to time, to pretend that I am a first-time visitor to the Falmouth Jewish Congregation. What do I see, hear, feel and experience when I walk through its doors?...  ...full story

Philip Bryant’s poem about the imperious, mercurial, brilliant and temperamental jazz trumpeter, Miles Davis, strikes me as an excellent primer for the approaching High Holy Days....

I have often said that living a Jewish life means choosing to view the world through Jewish eyes....  ...full story

The winds of positive change have been sweeping through New England in recent weeks.....  ...full story

My work as a rabbi not infrequently takes me into hospitals, rehabilitation centers and nursing homes where there is abundant evidence of the consequences of bodily malfunctions....  ...full story

It is no surprise to any of us that the economic crisis that the world is experiencing is having serious repercussions for synagogue life....  ...full story

Assuming that you are old enough to remember, can you recall where you were, and what you were doing, on April 8, 1981?...  ...full story

"Hope", opined Emily Dickinson, "is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul..."  ...full story

File this commentary under "Only in America"......

From its inception, Judaism has attracted those outside of the Jewish community, people who, for many reasons, choose to enter the orbit of Jewish life...  ...full story

The Talmud preserves a debate between the followers of Rabbi Hillel and those of Rabbi Shammai concerning the proper way to kindle the lights of Chanukah...  ...full story

Most of us are well-defended emotionally against the reality that virtually anything can happen to us at any time...  ...full story

Each of us has a favorite season....

As far as adult Jews go, I have a rather unusual situation when it comes to synagogue affiliation...  ...full story

I occasionally reflect on the fact that, when our East End Meeting House was built in 1797, our nation was a mere twenty-one years old....  ...full story

Indulge me, please, as I engage in a little free-association on the theme of "life cycle"....

I turned fifty-five years old in March of this year, a fact I note only to establish that I have never known a world without the State of Israel....  ...full story

A child once returned home from religious school and his father asked, "What did you learn today?"....

Do you think it safe to assume that there are not large number of Rodgers and Hammerstein afficionados in Iran?...  ...full story

If you were to create for yourself a list of desirable Jewish skills and competencies, what might be on your list?.....   ...full story

In monochromatic January, when our New England world is frozen in shades of brown and gray, it is not easy to " think green "....  ...full story

Approximately five years ago [....] we committed ourselves to a cutting-edge liturgical experiment....  ...full story

From the beginning of Jewish history our people has been concerned with names and the act of naming...  ...full story

It was the kind of message I expect to receive with increasing frequency...  ...full story

...which is precisely why I have been keeping company over the summer with a number of god-less people....authors, to be precise.   ...full story

I am frequently asked if I speak Yiddish and my answer is always a wistful "No"....  ...full story

As a man with a bald head, I probably should wear a hat more often....  ...full story

The pleasures we embrace as our own come to us in a wonderful variety of ways....  ...full story

A confession: I have never been a fan of professional sports....  ...full story

I write these words with the taste-memory of succulent hamantaschen still fresh in my mouth...  ...full story

"Purim is about concealment. More specifically, it is about movement from the covert to the overt...."   ...full story

"We were twenty-eight and going to live forever..."   ...full story

It was exactly one year ago that I began working with the six extraordinary individuals.....  ...full story

At the end of October I traveled to Springfield, MA, along with a spirited contingent of FJC leaders....  ...full story

The end of the fall Jewish holy day season always affords me an opportunity to take a deep breath and look back on the whirlwind of worship, celebration and activity which characterizes the weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah and culminating with Simchat Torah...  ...full story

At the beginning of October, as we ushered in Yom Kippur, we heard the soulful and plaintive strains of Kol Nidre....  ...full story

"There are not always rational and logical reasons for observance, nor need there be..."  ...full story

"The latest tensions, occasioned by the kidnaping of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit, have once again stoked the fires of Israel-bashing and anti-Semitism..."  ...full story

The year was 1981. How well do you remember it?....  ...full story

A few years ago I struck up a rather unusual friendship through eBay....  ...full story

Pamela Rothstein, our Director of Congregational Learning and Programming, visited Israel in February with a group of Jewish educators whose mission was to meet "Mitzvah Heroes".....  ...full story

From time to time I engage in what I call "desktop archeology"....making a foray into the piles of materials–magazine articles, e-mail print-offs, essays, etc.–which tower over one corner of my desk...  ...full story

In late December I learned that I had been appointed as one of seven commissioners to the newly-created Barnstable County Human Rights Commission...  ...full story

In seminary I took a required course called "Practical Rabbinics" which was taught by a seasoned congregational rabbi....  ...full story

Today I want to recognize and publicly acknowledge for the first time some very important people in our congregation.....  ...full story

...."let me focus on one particular aspect of my work which I deem extremely important, immensely satisfying, and which serves to strengthen our Jewish community"....  ...full story

I do not want my children to one day read a book by some future Laurel Leff detailing my generation’s failure to take seriously this genocide in the Sudan....  ...full story

"Caution! Objects are closer than they appear!" You’ll find those words on the passenger-door mirror of most cars these days...  ...full story

 I’ve been thinking about Shavuot–The Feast of Weeks–and its effective status as the "orphan" festival in our communal life....  ...full story

How does one come to faith in God or humanity in the wake of the Shoah....or Rwanda....or Darfur....or pick any horror from the broad course of human history....  ...full story

I want to update you on the final disposition of the case against the nineteen-year-old man who admitted to having spray-painted the swastika on our sign last November 30.

The Blizzard of ‘05 is already a melting memory but we’re still talking about it!......  ...full story

Our response to this, and every, tragedy will inevitably be shaped by what we have been taught and what we have come to believe over the course of our lives...  ...full story

A great deal has transpired since I stood outside the Meeting House on Tuesday morning, November 30, at 3:45 A.M., with members of the Falmouth Police Department, observing our swastika-defaced sign....

It is a gift, sometimes, to be given the opportunity to examine an old practice in a new light...  ...full story

One of the more fascinating aspects of the presidential race was the manner in which military service–or avoidance thereof–became a litmus test for the ability to lead our country....  ...full story

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a time to reflect on the blessings so many of us enjoy even while we remember that increasing numbers of people–including Jews in our own community–are caught up in the spiral of domestic abuse...

In my study here at the temple, one shelf of my library is devoted to books about the Jewish holy days. Without question, my favorite title is this one: This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared...  ...full story

I have, officially, reached my tipping point. It came on July 1 when I glanced at the calendar...   ...full story

     God, for me, is Mystery....

Passover is already a fading memory; Shavuot approaches.  ...full story

In the 1960's and ‘70's we heard a great deal about “freedom”....  ...full story

Miscellaneous musings on the theme of “Jewish identity”......  ...full story

One of the greatest pleasures I have as a rabbi is hearing positive feedback about our congregation from people who have attended services, enjoyed a program, or participated in a course of study here...  ...full story

I’ve always wanted to learn to juggle but have never made the time to do so...  ...full story

What’s in a name? More than we might ordinarily imagine...  ...full story

...the deepening controversy over Mel Gibson’s forthcoming movie, Passion, is occasioning such...well, passionate debate in Jewish and Christian circles.  ...full story

Woody Allen once joked that he cheated on his metaphysics exam in college by peering into the soul of the student sitting next to him...  ...full story

On our honeymoon, back in 1984, my wife and I spent time in San Fransisco. Among the souvenirs we acquired on that memorable trip was a small bank in the shape of a classic San Francisco Victorian house...  ...full story

So what connections do I make between our Annual Meeting and the ascent of the world’s highest peak?...  ...full story

What kind of photos immediately grab your attention when you skim through magazines or newspapers? My eye is always drawn to the kinds of images which depict mountain vistas, soaring Alpine peaks, and people inching their way up cliff-faces...  ...full story

Liberation is never an end unto itself...  ...full story

Last week I distributed to my congregational e-mail list a message which directed interested readers to the website of PETA (People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to view an astonishingly offensive comparison between Holocaust victims and caged chickens awaiting slaughter...  ...full story

Beneath the megillah’s buffoonery lies a somber message that Jewish survival has always been a precarious venture...  ...full story

From time to time I fantasize about the possible lives I might have led had I not decided to become a rabbi...  ...full story

There is a very real and growing hunger in our community to find opportunities to speak with each other about God and matters of spirit...  ...full story

Not all of us are musical; not every one is blessed with a voice others would choose to hear...  ...full story

“Isn’t Falmouth Nice!” reads the locally famous bumper sticker. We now have yet another reason to declare that Falmouth is far more than “nice”.  ...full story

Do lattkes go with leftover turkey (or, in my case, tofurkey)?  ...full story

“It is difficult to describe how insidious abuse is. The worst part of abuse is not the breaking of the objects or the physical attacks on one’s person. [My husband] was mean and controlling long before he began shoving me."  ...full story

My spring and summer were filled with “peak” experiences.  ...full story

Wearing my “Dad hat” and my “Rabbi’s kippah” simultaneously has been a challenge, to say the least!  ...full story

Time holds us in its grip but, as Jews, we keep a secular calendar in one pocket and a Jewish calendar in the other.  ...full story

Are you looking for the Eshet Chayil--the Woman of Valor-- of whom the Bible speaks? (Proverbs 31:10-31) You can stop looking! I’ve found one...  ...full story

The myriad agonies occasioned by the raging violence between Israel and the Palestinians have many of us struggling and grieving...  ...full story

If Jewish history and the experience of our people have taught us anything it is that cataclysmic change is woven into the very fabric of human existence...  ...full story

Passover will have come and gone once again and, apart from memories of a lovely seder what will we have to show for our rendezvous with the “Feast of Freedom”?  ...full story

"...apart from the sheer fun of Purim–-the chance to let down one’s hair, regardless of one’s age–and to put on a costume or a disguise--Purim brings us an ever-new, but timeless message about Jewish vulnerability and Jewish strength...."  ...full story

That strange commercial, which has a haunting, ghost-like quality to it, forces us to ask ourselves if anyone is really listening to Dr. King’s words almost thirty-four years after he was viciously and tragically cut down...  ...full story

He was a “part-time” caretaker for our congregation who consistently, for ten years, gave above and beyond to our community...  ...full story

With Harry Potter-mania fully sprung upon the world, I fully expected to see a Harry Potter Chanukah Menorah for sale somewhere!  ...full story

On September 5, 1986 the Falmouth Jewish Congregation received an invaluable gift.   ...full story

Grief is always uncharted territory. We wander through it, never knowing when and where we will emerge or how we will be transformed by the journey.  ...full story

It is always about choice. Those who planned the highjackings, those who opted for suicide and mass murder to make a point, chose evil. And we, friends, are confronted with choices every moment of our lives in which we have the opportunity to choose goodness.  ...full story

Driving into Providence, R.I. this summer on Interstate 195, I glanced off to the right as I passed the downtown high-rises and noticed a billboard.  ...full story

So what does a rabbi have to say to an Episcopal priest and his new congregation?  ...full story

"October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. But this is August, isn’t it?"  ...full story

We sing it each Passover; we are reminded of it every time we worship as a congregation; it is one of the bedrock statements upon which Judaism is based: avadim hayinu....”We were slaves....”   ...full story

What a difference a year makes!  ...full story

The month of June brings us many wonderful opportunities to experience gratitude and to express appreciation. On Friday evening, June 1, we pay tribute to our Music Director extraordinaire Judith Levin   ...full story

The prophet Isaiah was among those Jews who experienced life in exile in Babylonia in the 6th century B.C.E. In his teachings he shared his vision of the messianic time-to-come and used these words to describe one significant aspect of the perfect world for which he prayed and hoped: “...and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into  ...full story