Rabbi's Corner

Originally published June 27, 2024 It was wonderful to see so many folks from Temple Shalom and the broader community at Sunday’s Walk for Israel. I was proud to represent Temple Shalom and our values. Below are the words that I shared on Sunday: Earlier this week, I...

Originally published June 20, 2024 When I landed in Toronto last Sunday night, finally back home after nearly 3 weeks in Singapore, I was thrilled (and more than a little relieved) to read the reports and see the pictures of Toronto’s UJA Walk with Israel on June 9....

Originally posted June 13, 2024 This week, Jewish communities around the world celebrated the holiday of Shavuot, marking the culmination of our Omer cycle and our receiving the Torah. Tradition tells us that every single Jewish soul - past, present, and future - was...

Originally published June 6, 2024 By now, you have probably heard about the latest antisemitic incident in our region, this one hitting much closer to home than recent attacks against schools and synagogues in Toronto. A rock was thrown through the window of Beth...

Originally published May 30, 2024 I was reminded this week of one of Israeli poet's Yehuda Amichai's most well-known poems, "The Place Where We Are Right." Catching up on podcasts from the past few weeks, I listened to Poetry Unbound's beautiful discussion and...

Originally published May 23, 2024 This week’s Torah portion is chock full of ancient practices that have fallen by the wayside, long before our modern era. We have guidelines for biblical slavery, the laws for the yovel - jubilee year - and the practice of the...

Originally published May 16, 2024 Our weekly Torah portion, Emor, opens with a set of instructions to the priests regarding how to prevent becoming impure through physical contact with a dead body. If you've been in a traditional Jewish funeral home, you may have seen...

Originally published May 9, 2024 This week's Torah portion, Kedoshim, is part of a section of Leviticus known as "the Holiness Code." Smack dab in the middle of our Torah, we have a blueprint for what it means to live in holiness with other humans, a guide for setting...

Originally Publsihed April 25, 2024 Macaroons and matza toffee, brisket, salmon, or chicken, gefilte fish, matza ball soup, charoset (in so many different varieties!), huevos haminados or hard boiled eggs…our list of beloved Passover foods goes on and on.  Whatever...

Originally published April 18, 2024 As I prepare for Pesach and the seders, I am painfully aware that this year is not like every other year. It is Israel's first wartime Pesach, if you discount prior periods of conflict that stretched on for years, like the First and...