Rabbi Weill's Blog

February 13, 2025

Dear Friends,

We recited "Yona Betzalel Brief" every day for more than a year after October 7, 2023, when Yona risked his safety to save his fellow soldiers from the terrorist onslaught. We recited psalms for Yona and held a special healing service for him. We raised funds for other wounded soldiers in Yona's honor. When he died at 24 years old, we grieved.   

Read more...

January 2, 2025

Dear Friends,

This year we celebrate the final days of Chanukah and the secular New Year together. This rare confluence of Chanukah, the celebration of dedication to Jewish life and values, and the secular New Year, a time of universal renewed hope for humankind may find some meaning in this week’s parasha.

Parashat Vayigash documents Joseph’s...Read more...

December 5, 2024

Dear Friends,

We at Ezra-Habonim, the Niles Township Jewish Congregation lift each other up during difficult times and rejoice with each other during happy times. This may sound trite, but it is true. EHNT is a community.

We have needed each other during this last challenging year. Antisemitism has risen. Israel is fighting a multi-front war. All Jews...Read more...

November 7, 2024

Dear Friends,

What a week. Some are despondent and some elated. But we’re all in this together. Let’s keep the following in mind:

Be united. Friends do not become enemies when they vote for candidates we oppose. People choose parties and candidates for all sorts of reasons. Diverse political opinions are represented within our congregation. We can still sit together...Read more...

September 26, 2024

Dear Friends,

We have always known about the horrors of Jewish history from books, movies, and museums. On October 7 we realized that those horrors are not historic or distant. They possess a shocking immediacy in our own lives.

The year 5784 was difficult. There has been so much sadness, so many assaults, so much hatred, so much confusion.

And...Read more...

September 13, 2024

Dear Friends,

Everything gets muddled up. That’s not the most optimistic observation about life, but there’s truth to it, particularly as far as our perspectives are concerned. I often feel like I vacillate between clarity and confusion. This olam hafuch - upside down world - contributes to the confusion. 

But on Rosh Hashanah, the world is born...Read more...

Dear Friends,

At this moment, one hundred and nine treasured human beings are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. They are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. … The youngest hostage is a one-year old red-headed baby boy and the oldest is an eighty-six year old mustachioed grandpa. Among the hostages are eight American citizens. One of those Americans is our only son. His name is...Read more...

August 1, 2024

Dear Friends,

Events in Israel have unfolded rapidly and alarmingly: Hezbollah’s horrific killing of twelve Israeli children in the Golan; the assassinations of leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah; the escalation of violence in the north; Iranian threats against Israel.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave his fourth address to a joint session of...Read more...

July 3rd, 2024

Dear Friends,

This Saturday morning we will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Drs. George and Veronika Urban! The Urbans have been good friends and dedicated members of EHNT for many years. I am so pleased they are celebrating their simcha in the midst of our synagogue family.

Veronika and George came to America from...Read more...

May 23rd, 2024

Dear Friends,

"Somewhere there's music. How faint the tune." Well, that somewhere is here at EHNT, and the tune is not so faint! We are making and enjoying music all the time.

Last Friday night, more than 100 congregants enjoyed a Shabbat dinner with a sing-along by our Shireinu choir, followed by a Koleinu service, featuring folk-rock...Read more...

May 6th, 2024

Dear Friends,

Today is Yom Ha’Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Some have compared today’s anti-Semitism on American and European campuses to the devastating tragedy against our people 80 years ago in Europe. 

I understand the temptation to make such comparisons. Yes, we are living during fretful times. I am relieved...Read more...

Dear Friends,

Bernie Black, EHNT congregant and Northwestern University professor, offered a compelling presentation at our Shabbat services a few weeks ago about what he had learned from his recent long stay in Israel. Bernie teaches law each year at Tel Aviv University and the University of Haifa.

He offered an expanded version of that presentation at Northwestern last week at an event sponsored by the Jewish Law Students...Read more...

Dear Friends,

Generations of bar mitzvah boys have proclaimed "Today I am a man." It is hard to imagine any 13-year-old boy as a real man. But in this week's Torah portion, God identifies Bezalel as the Israelite who will oversee the building of the tabernacle and, according to Talmud, he was only 13 years old!

When I was 13, I couldn't finish building a sturdy Lincoln Log cabin -- and Bezalel was the general contractor...Read more...

February 1st, 2024

Dear Friends,

Rabbi Neil Brief passed away last Shabbat morning. This has been a sad week for Ezra-Habonim, the Niles Township Jewish Congregation.

Rabbi Brief began serving this congregation on July 1, 1971. Since then, 2744 weeks have passed. Those numbers (2 + 7 + 4 + 4) equals 17, the date in the month of Shevat on which Rabbi Brief passed away.

Read more...

Dear Friends,

Murdered Israelis; wounded Israelis; the rape of Israeli women and girls; fallen Israeli soldiers; the deaths of innocent Gazans; the rise of Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank, the violence and harassment by Jewish “hilltop youth” toward Palestinians; the rise of antisemitism globally, including on campuses some of our children attend.

And, of course, the...Read more...