Sublime

The Torah seeks to imbue time with this dimension of holiness so that the uniqueness of the human being will be sustained by the temporal reality.

even as a leader of the minyan, college was a cynical davening time—prayer can’t really engage people, I figured, so let’s just get it done as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The Jewish strategy was to combine human activism and restraint, yoking mastery over nature with reverence for the natural order.

the purity of practitioners’ intentions aside, those who are faithful to communal rituals do in fact reap the rewards of communal solidarity.

One people risked its very existence on the proposition that our common humanity exists in and through our differences; that the human person itself, regardless of faith, independent of race, is in the image of God; and that the unity of God expresses itself in the diversity of creation and human culture. With this we come to one of the most contro

People want deep meaning and connection, but they move through life thinking of Judaism’s contribution to the world as Seinfeld and guilt.

Among American Jews, there is a significant demand for meaningful, engaged Jewish life.

A medieval sage, Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel (Rosh, 1250?–1327), insists that this mitzvah of receiving people warmly applies not just to one-on-one encounters but also to the way we carry ourselves in public. “Let not your face be angry toward passersby,” he says, “but receive them with a friendly countenance.”48 How we comport ourselves in the world m

In the most literal meaning of “Israel,” I am thankful to be one of those who wrestles or struggles with God.