Rabbi Arthur Weiner

Today is a special day in the Jewish calendar.  It’s Lag B’Omer , the 33rd day of the Omer . You may recall that at the second Passover Seder we began the counting of the Omer .  That night, we began to fulfill the commandment to count each day, seven complete weeks.  At the conclusion of those seven weeks is the holiday of Shavuot.  In Biblical times, this season of the year was a festive time.  Our ancestors would bring an Omer , a measure of grain as an offering each day to the Temple, symbolizing their gratitude for the spring harvest and the bounty of the land. After the destruction of the Temple, this once happy period became a mournful one. We know that it was at this time of the year when the second revolt against Rome, the Bar Kochba Revolt (132-135 C.E.) came to a violent end, and with it the loss of thousands of lives and renewed persecution of Israel’s remaining Jews.  Later, during the middle ages, Jews especially suffered at the hands of...

  This week’s Torah reading Acharei Mot - Kedoshim deals with the idea of holiness.    Kedoshim Tehiyu, Ki Kadosh Ani Adon-ai Elohechem . You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God, am Holy (Leviticus 19:2)   Yet in truth, the Bible's vision for achieving it differs radically from our own.  What is the message of holiness that is so often passed off true devekut , or connection with G-d?   If I were to ask you for an image or an example, what might you suggest? When I ask this question of young people, they often give me an answer based upon our society’s vision.   Older, separate, denying the pleasures of the flesh.   Gurus, personal spiritual guides, etc. Or worse, I hear in their descriptions and visions echoes of the selfishness and the narcissism that has invaded every aspect of American culture.   Judaism seems to add little to their sense of holiness, or its relevance.   But it should.   Because 2000 y...

  Yesterday, I participated in exclusive conversation with Yossi Klein HaLevi, one of Israel’s most influential thinkers and journalists.  This event, sponsored by AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) was one of several Israel Independence Day events that I attended during the past week. I hope you took the opportunity to register for some of the events that I had sent to the congregation earlier this week. Mr. Klein spoke about many important topics. He spoke about the relationship between Israel and the United States.  He spoke about the amazing possibilities of the Abraham Accords, and Israel’s establishment of full diplomatic relations with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, and the possibility of new partnerships in the future.  He spoke about Israel’s recent elections, and had some interesting perspectives that I had not heard before. I had the opportunity to directly ask him a question, and want to share his answer with you. My question to him w...

  I would like to welcome you all to our annual Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Memorial service.   For 25 years, our synagogue has conducted our own Yom HaShoah commemoration to remember the victims of the holocaust, to reaffirm our commitment to Jewish life, and carry on the tradition that the Nazis sought to destroy. In the past two weeks there have been a variety of new stories where references to the Holocaust, or the use of Holocaust imagery has been used to score political points regarding current issues. Perhaps you saw or read about some of them. Representative Madison Cawthorne of North Carolina compared the idea of vaccine passports to the laws of Nazi Germany. Others have invoked the yellow stars of David that the Nazis forced Jews to wear to voice their opposition to such policies. Representative Cawthorne even made the following comments “proposals like these smack of 1940s Nazi Germany. We must make every effort to keep America from becoming a show your papers socie...