In a world filled with wonder, love, at times pain and loss–and above all mystery–we embrace each other, celebrate together, and encounter what life brings-on each moment of breath. In such a world, each of us is a reflection of…

Several weeks ago, my wife Silvia and I finally freed ourselves on a Thursday night to catch THE INTERN, a film with Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro. What made that Thursday particularly appealing, aside from the cast, was the…

LISTENING WITH AN OPEN HEART Back in San Diego,CA after nineteen years—it’s an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to pursue what is part of the fabric of my identity—being a rabbi and a listener. Over the thirty-eight years of being a…

YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN—OR CAN YOU IN SAN DIEGO? Tom Wolff has immortalized the phrase, “You can’t go home again.” The title of his novel touches what we all know to be true: when we come back home it…

WHEN THE GIFT OF LIFE IS TAKEN The story I share with you is a story that I wrote in an effort to confront the loss of loved ones. It is especially pertinent to events of the past two weeks…

As I write these words at the end of 2014, I am filled with a sense that the year has whizzed-by and I have hardly had time to catch my breath. And as I anticipate the new year of 2015,…

The Festival of Lights, Some Two Thousand Years later   Over two thousand years have elapsed from the time the Maccabees entered the Jerusalem Temple to purify it from the profanation of the Syrian-Greeks, who erected a statue of the…

The People on St. Thomas December 2014 If not for some special people, I might not have taken the interim position as the rabbi of The Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas. So who are they, the people to whom I…

It happened very fast, unexpectedly so. About eight months ago, I managed to take a seminar for rabbis who were interested in serving in interim positions in congregations, usually for a year. The training, after all, was an additional career…

Dear friends, Shabbat Shalom, Shabbat Menucha–Shabbat filled with peace and tranquility. I not only want to send you Shabbat peace but also a link to the Foreign Policy website where I found a very interesting, enlightening and somewhat disturbing email…