Rabbi Arthur Weiner

For my Shabbat message this week, I would like to share with the community the tribute I offered to the veterans of our JCCP/CBT family during our minyan and roll call of veterans this past Tuesday evening. *                          *                          *  As we gather this Veterans Day for our daily evening minyan , we pause to   honor and express our deepest gratitude to the veterans within our JCCP/CBT community and to all who have served in the armed forces of the United States. In every generation, brave men and women have stepped forward to defend the freedoms we hold sacred. They left behind families, homes, and the comfort of daily life to serve a cause larger than themselves: the safety, security, and ideals of our nation. For the Jewish people, this gratitude carries special meaning. We who have known the pai...

When I was in Rabbinical school, The Rabbi as Symbolic Exemplar by the late Rabbi Jack Bloom was required reading. In it, Rabbi Bloom, himself an extraordinary Rabbi and a leading psychologist, argued that a Rabbi is never perceived as merely a private individual, but rather, a living symbol of Judaism, the Jewish people and even God's covenant with Israel. In other words, congregants don't see me, Arthur Weiner the individual, but rather, "The Rabbi." As a result of that, everything a Rabbi does; how they pray, teach, dress, eat, spend money, respond to conflict, as well as a million other everyday activities, are interpreted symbolically, as representing what Judaism itself values or expects. It's a heavy burden. After all, I'm not sure that screaming at the television while watching my beloved NY Jets is the best example of behavior, but to do so in public might lend itself to all kinds of judgement not only about me, but Judaism itself.  I didn't ...

This week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha , marks the true beginning of the Jewish story. God calls to Abram, “Lech lecha mei’artzecha u-mimolad’techa u-mi’beit avicha el ha’aretz asher ar’eka”   “Go forth from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) With those words, Abram begins the process of becoming Abraham, the first to take the moral risk of walking into the unknown. He leaves behind comfort and certainty, trusting that God’s promise will unfold through him. But the very next verses remind us that even the righteous are not spared hardship: “There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt.” (12:10) Food insecurity, it seems, is as old as civilization itself. And from the beginning, the Torah has demanded that we respond to it with urgency and compassion. Abraham’s journey to Egypt foreshadows the moral journey of our people from famine to plenty, from slavery to freedom, from indifference to ...