Rabbi Weill's Blog

Dear Friends,

Israel held its fourth election in two years this week and again the results are inconclusive! This may lead to a fifth election later this year. There is something fundamentally cockeyed and broken about an electoral system that repeatedly fails to yield decisive results.

On the other hand, let us bear in mind that Israel is, in fact, a democracy. It holds regular elections. Its Palestinian citizens participate...Read more...

Dear Friends,

Purim was a blast at EHNTJC! About 100 congregants Zoomed into our evening service, which featured fun music, dancing, and the reading of parts of the Megillah by several of our teens. Thanks to Lee Levin and Elena Batman Levin. The next morning, we chanted the entire Megillah and I chanted directly from the Torah – the first time we did so in just about a year.

The Purim shpiel, “Megillahgan’s Islands”...Read more...

Dear Friends,

In this week’s Torah portion, Moses’s Midianite father-in-law, Yitro, offers unsolicited but welcome advice. He sees Moses struggling to serve as judge for all the disputes of the Israelites, the equivalent of a midsize America city. How could Moses handle such a burden? Yitro counsels Moses to appoint anshei chayil –...Read more...

Dear Friends,

This is a serious moment for our democracy. We would like to believe that what we viewed on our screens was surreal, but it was real. And we would like to say that the transition to a new administration will be smooth, but we are anxious.

Anxious, but optimistic. The stories of our tradition – indeed, the history of our people – illustrate that seeds of redemption take root during trying times. At the outset...Read more...

Dear Friends,

Judaism is a relational religion. We were born with a brit, a covenantal commitment to God, and we express that covenant in relational acts both vertical and horizontal.

Vertical relationships refer to acts bein adam l’Makom, between each individual and God. These include mitzvoth (properly translated as commandments) like honoring Shabbat, keeping kosher, Torah study, and wearing ritual objects like tallises...Read more...

Dear Friends,

I remember Thanksgiving from days of yore – at least days of my yore, when my younger brother Kenny and I would dress up like Pilgrims. Taped on my nice shoes were construction paper buckles.

Did Pilgrim men’s shoes have buckles? I have no idea. It may just be a story.

There is a heavy dose of “story” in every nation’s founding narratives. The stories we tell about ourselves may not be...Read more...

Dear Friends,

A rabbi noticed a young man – a stranger – enter the sanctuary on Shabbat and sit in the back row. It was apparent to the rabbi that the young man was unfamiliar with the service, and that he did not seem to know anyone else in the sanctuary.

At the beginning of the Torah service, during the processional, the rabbi welcomed the young man; they shook hands, smiling.

Later, during Kiddush, the young...Read more...

Dear Friends,

Leadership is on our minds this summer, and that is the primary concern of Parshat Shoftim, this week’s Torah portion. It focuses on the judges, magistrates, and priests of ancient Israel.

The Mishnah says something critically important about the High Priest. “Kohein Gadol dan v’danin oto. The High Priest judges and they judge him....Read more...

Dear Friends,

Today is Tisha b'Av, the darkest day on the Jewish calendar. It is a fast day on which we recall the tragedies of our history, especially the destructions of the first and second Holy Temples, which were destroyed on this day, the ninth of Av, in the sixth century B.C.E. and the first century C.E., respectively.

Tisha b'Av is not only about our suffering. It is about any suffering. It is not merely about our...Read more...

Dear Friends,

The Israelites exhibit an astonishing lack of faith in this week’s Torah portion, Shelach Lecha. Moses has sent scouts to explore the land; ten of the twelve scouts are despondent because of the giants they encountered. They then lead the Israelite nation...Read more...

Dear Friends,

Shavuot, which begins this evening, is one of Judaism's three major festivals (or chaggim), along with Passover and Sukkot. (The High Holidays are not considered "festivals.") Shavuot is, without a doubt, the least observed and most obscure of the three festivals. It's critically  important, though, for on Shavuot, we commemorate mattan Torah, the giving of Torah at Mt Sinai. 

Questions arise. Who,...Read more...

Dear Friends,

I recently read that when Victor Hugo wanted to learn how Les Miserables was selling, he telegraphed his publisher a message consisting only of this: ?.

His publisher knew exactly what Hugo wanted to know, so he replied just as tersely:  !

In other words, Les Miserables was selling well!

Interesting that Hugo, a man of many words refrained from...Read more...

Dear Friends,

We do have cause to celebrate! Sure, we are enduring a global pandemic. Yes, the economy has taken a major hit. Of course, we are deprived of the physical closeness to family and friends which is so important to human beings.

We celebrate nonetheless, for we marvel at the human capacity to adapt to changing circumstances. This includes us. We at EHNTJC have adroitly transitioned to virtual classes, services and...Read more...

Dear Friends,

An Egyptian stands at the edge of the sea, watching his countrymen drown in its waters. He grieves for the dead firstborn, including in his own family.

He hears the Israelites singing. “Mi chamocha ba’elim, Adonai? Who is like you among the gods, Eternal God?” And this Egyptian, nurtured in the...Read more...

Dear Friends,

An interesting mitzvah about boundaries appears in this week's Torah portion, Shoftim. “You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark” (Deuteronomy 19:14). The Hebrew term is “hasagat gevul,” crossing a boundary. In other words, do not encroach on another's property. 

This mitzvah (commandment) can be applied to our own personal relationships. We must respect others' boundaries (“your neighbor's...Read more...