Rabbi Arthur Weiner

Today is Tu B’Shevat , a special day of the Jewish year.  Tu B’Shevat literally means the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat, and is understood to be the new year for trees. Tu B’Shevat connects us to the growing season in the land of Israel.    Why does there need to be a new year for trees?  The Torah tells us that when a tree was planted in Israel, its fruit was not to be consumed for three years ( Leviticus 19:23-25).  The question that needed to be answered was whether the years were counted from the actual planting of the tree, or by some other measure.  Trees planted before Tu B’Shevat, became a year old after that date.  If this is confusing to you, consider this:  if you bought a brand new 2023 model car on Dec. 31st 2023, the car – at least according to the auto industry and your insurance company – became one year old on January 1, 2024. In honor of Tu’ B’Shevat , I want to challenge everyone reading this Shabbat message to consider doing something special for Isra

I remember attending a meeting at the Teaneck Jewish Center about 15 years ago. The purpose of this meeting, or so, I thought, was to raise greater awareness about the plight of then Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit, who had been captured by Hamas in a cross-border raid during which two Israeli soldiers were killed, and two others wounded.   Gilad Shalit remained a hostage for 5 years.    Among the speakers were supporters of the Shalit family, as well as families members of Israeli soldiers similarly kidnapped by Hezbollah in the north.   Soon after the meeting began, I became very uncomfortable. What had been advertised as a meeting to raise awareness about the plight of Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev, (the latter two were eventually killed by Hezbollah, and their remains were returned as part of a different lopsided deal) and to advocate for their return to Israel, quickly degenerated into a pressure campaign that held the Israeli government responsible for their cont

I’m not much of a college football fan. But I wanted to say something about the College Football Playoff championship game last Monday night, which saw the University of Michigan defeat Washington, 34-13. This tremendous victory was Michigan’s first national title since 1997. The Wolverines, as the Michigan football team is known, have a national following that numbers in the millions. They boast one of the premier sports programs in all of college sports. 38 former students are currently playing in the NFL.   The university has the largest stadium in the United States at 107,601seats, larger than any stadium used by an NFL team, and the third largest stadium in the world.   (By comparison, the largest NFL stadium, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford NJ can seat 82,500.) They have sold out every game except one for the past 48 years.   The team deserves praise for their hard work, efforts, and stunning progress on the field.   Yet the Wolverines are not exactly a rags to riches sto