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Reflections and Concerns Upon Returning from Israel
I returned this morning from a week in Israel. I had planned to, under the auspices of AIPAC and with 17 other “progressive” rabbis (AIPAC’s term) see first-hand the multitudes of ways that Israel...
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Do Not Adjust Your Machzor! It’s Not a Mistake
With Mishkan HaNefesh, the new Reform machzor, reaching the public for the first time, it is natural that some of the differences between its Hebrew text and Gates of Repentance will confuse some...
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Why Is the Shofar Service in Three Sections in Mishkan HaNefesh?
With Mishkan HaNefesh now close to being published, the decision regarding the Shofar sections made by the editors many years ago, and piloted for many a season, is naturally coming under review by...
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Inside Mishkan HaNefesh: A Letter to My Younger Self
What follows is a hypothetical letter written after this coming Yom Kippur to myself. Dear Myself from Three Months Ago, As I munch my Yom Kippur break-the-fast madeleine, I recall the past ten days...
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Inside Mishkan HaNefesh: Doing it Right or Doing it Well?
At one point in the Harry Potter series, Dumbledore lets Harry know that there will come a time when he has to choose between what is right and what looks easy. The point he is making is that...
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Opening the Sacred Envelope: The Joy of Seeing Mishkan HaNefesh Being Used
Some weeks ago I was sitting in a synagogue in the Upper East Side of New York on a beautiful May morning, listening to the beautiful words of Rosh HaShanah liturgy set to music during the Hava T’filah...
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Paradoxes in Israel 2016
Today is February 29, a leap day and plot device in Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta, Pirates of Penzance. In the story, Young Frederic is forced to be a pirate, but is allowed to give up this...
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Introducing Divrei Mishkan HaNefesh: A Guide to the CCAR Machzor
Divrei Mishkan HaNefesh, newly released by CCAR Press, is a compendium to the new machzor of the Reform Movement, Mishkan HaNefesh: Machzor for the Days of Awe. It is serving as a springboard for...
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Total Solar Eclipse
As most of us know quite well, today (Monday, August 21st) there will be a rare event in our country: a total solar eclipse. In short, the moon will “photobomb” the sun’s selfie. I recently wrote a...
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CCAR Israel Trip – January 2019
I write this as I am returning to Chicago from a week spent with a number of rabbinical colleagues in Israel. The purpose of the trip was to expose our group to the creativity and innovations that are...
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