rabbijonathanfOct 8, 20196 minYom Kippur: Making This Year CountY Yom Kippur -Making This Year Count (This was my talk on Yom Kippur) On Rosh Hashanah our 12 year old daughter sat in on the Natanah...
rabbijonathanfOct 2, 20192 minA New Me For The New YearWhen we think of a New Year celebration, what comes to mind are parties, champagne, and a midnight toast to the coming year. The Jewish...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20194 minA Time to Laugh and a Time To Weep: Meaningful Melancholy on the 9th of Av There is a time to laugh and a time to weep. Most people think this simple yet insightful truism comes from a song written by Pete Seeger...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20196 minOur Aliyahversary, One Year In by Shifra FeldmanToday, August 1st our family is celebrating our one-year Aliyah anniversary. I get chills up and down my arms just writing that...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 201910 minThe Jewish State Law: In 1894 a young journalist named Theodore Herzl attended the Dreyfus Trial in Paris where a Jewish officer was accused of treason. The...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20193 minShavuot: The Holiday of the Book for the People of the BookShavuot could be considered the holiday of the book. Unlike Rosh Hashanah which has the shofar, Chanukah which has the menorah and...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20197 minJerusalem Day: The Fulfillment of Jewish DestinyOn June 7 1967 at 4:00 am Knesset member Menachem Begin, who had just joined the cabinet of the government of Israel, called the Prime...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20193 minMel Gibson's ChutzpahIt’s bad enough to make a film about a dysfunctional family that alludes to a wealthy Jewish family. But casting Mel Gibson as the...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20192 minIsrael Memorial Day, A Day of Meaning and PurposeToday is Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers in Israel. Families, friends, people who want to show they care all came to...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20193 minYom Hashoa: True Strength of the SpiritIt is an honor to be commemorating Yom Hazikaron L’shoa ugvurah, the day of remembrance for the Holocaust and Heroismin Israel. The day...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20196 minWhen Someone Else’s Icon is the Symbol of Your People’s PersecutionMy first time visiting Notre Dame de Paris was when I was 11 years old. I grew up going to a French school, and visited Paris regularly...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20193 minEat Matzah, Don't KvetchThe story goes back to the work camps during the WWII. Every morning in the camp a group of Jewish workers got up extra early before dawn...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20194 minA Deeper Understanding of Anti-Semitism -Purim blog IThere are some people who by nature alarmists. Those folks are the types who I would hear say, speaking about anti-semitism in the United...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20193 minA World Apart -Parsha Blog People do not know what to make of ultra-orthodox Jews, yet they are often fascinated by them as well. They are one of us, a member of...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20193 minRunning Together in Tel Aviv MarathonLast Friday I had the thrilling experience of running in the Tel Aviv marathon. Let me qualify that, I ran in the 10 K race as part of...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20193 minExercising Good Judgement -Parsha Video BlogShortly after the founding of the State of Israel, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Maimon, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence,...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20193 minThe Foundation of Freedom & The Rock of Israel -Parsha Blog Within the first two sentences of the US Declaration of Independence, G-d is mentioned twice. It speaks of ‘the station to which Nature’s...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20193 minTu B'Shvat, a Holiday of RenewalTu B’shvat for me as a kid meant giving money to plant a tree in Israel, and eating fruits indigenous to Israel. We would then get a...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20193 minSongs of Celebration: Moshe by the Sea and Naomi in Jerusalem Jerusalem of Gold is possibly the most well-known contemporary Jewish song, certainly the most well-known Israeli song. People are...
rabbijonathanfAug 24, 20193 minThe Power of the Spirit: More than a Passover Bar-b-q -Parsha BlogHistory documents many revolutions of the oppressed over the ruling powers. In more recent times the French revolution and the Russian...