“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything,” said Alexander Hamilton. Every year that we stand before God to give an accounting for the previous year, we also make a promise for the following year. But what do we stand for? Let us pose a simple question: Did we fulfill our obligations in respect [...]

Reflecting on my seven years at Tifereth Israel, it has been a dance. The shul family has been with each other in sorrow and in joy, and at all the times in between. I acknowledge how appreciative I am to have been so warmly embraced. Thank you so much for making me part of your [...]

We tend to attribute the fatherhood of modern capitalism to Adam Smith, who wrote The Wealth of Nations originally as a mere guidebook. In essence, Adam Smith’s philosophy was to let the markets regulate themselves or, as we commonly refer to this idea, to perpetuate a free economy. My finance professor back in business school, Dr. [...]

In a few days, it will be seven years since I began serving as the rabbi of Congregation Tifereth Israel. When I decided to make the change from corporate to the rabbinate, I did it not because I didn’t enjoy the work I was doing; on the contrary, it was gratifying in many ways. I did [...]

Last Wednesday evening at Christie's in New York, a 1986 sculpture by Jeff Koons, “The Rabbit,” sold for $91 million. A playful, stainless steel, faceless rabbit, just over three feet tall, which has not been publicly exhibited for more than 30 years, became the most expensive work by a living artist ever to sell at auction. Christie's had described the sculpture as “…one [...]

There are times in life when an event so compelling takes place that we are obligated to document it and keep it for future generations. Such an event is the exodus from Egypt, the story we relate over and again, year after year, at the Passover Seder. So how did the Jewish people keep the [...]

The mask covers what we can’t simply show in our ordinary lives, something that comes from a world beyond ourselves. Our public persona is taking its Sabbath break, playing hide-and-go-seek with our parent God, who can find us under any disguise.  The first “mask” was made by Adam and Eve, right after they sinned. “Then the eyes [...]

It was a beautiful winter day today in Jerusalem. We had just celebrated Eliza Garmise’s bat mitzvah at the family section of the Western Wall. Eliza stood to read the Torah right at the heart of the Jewish story. She was surrounded by her proud parents, Jason and Jessica, and her grandparents — our shul members [...]