As I write this column, Roman Catholic cardinals from around the globe are assembling in the Vatican to begin the process of selecting a new Pope. There is no shortage of commentary on that intricate process. On a daily basis we’ve been treated to reports on  the security measures undertaken to help insure a secret ballot, on where the now-retired [...]

A Purim joke: The first Jewish President of the United States has been inaugurated, and the first Jewish holiday that follows is Purim. So he calls up his mother to invite her to the White House for Purim. Their conversation goes something like this: President:   “Mom, with Purim being the first holiday after my inauguration, I want you to celebrate [...]

As I look toward the end of January and the nation’s commemoration of the birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am recalling an essay that I have been chewing upon ever since I read it a few months ago. It’s author is Former Prime Minister of Israel Shimon Peres and it is part of The Peoplehood [...]

Pundits and politicians of every stripe are still engaged in their post-election post mortem. What is abundantly clear, regardless of whether one awakened on the morning of November 7th elated or deflated, is that our nation faces daunting challenges that will require unprecedented collaborative efforts to solve. But one message that rose to surface of the election aftermath is one [...]

A Request Ursula Le Guin [From Finding My Elegy: New and Selected Poems 1960-2010. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.] Should my tongue be tied by stroke listen to me as if I spoke and said to you, "My dear, my friend, stay here a while and take my hand; my voice is hindered by this clot, but silence says what [...]

Thanks to our member, Art Lash, for these photos from our Simchat Torah celebration on October 7th. Our feet, and spirits, were flying!

At Summer's End by John Engels Early August, and the young butternut is already dropping its leaves, the nuts thud and ring on the tin roof, the squirrels are everywhere. Such richness! It means something to them that this tree should seem so eager to finish its business. The voice softens, and word becomes air the moment it is spoken. [...]

The current issue of Reform Judaism carries an article by Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro of Sinai Temple in Springfield, MA which describes the “God survey” he distributed to his congregation. The article is worth reading because it reflects what many of us already know....that liberal congregations like his (and ours) are communities of people holding an impressive variety of understandings [...]