Rabbi Arthur Weiner

When did empathy become controversial? First, let’s make sure we share an understanding of what empathy means.   Here are definitions from the Merriam Webster, and Cambridge English dictionaries: 1. the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another . 2. the ability to share someone else's feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person's situation . I would have thought that understanding and being sensitive to another’s suffering was something most Americans could support. We might disagree about what to do about that suffering. But surely recognizing it was a good place to begin. Apparently, even that has become complicated. An Axios article this week reported on a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute examining Americans’ attitudes toward empathy. It found substantial differences among religious and political groups, with white e...

Do you remember watching television with your parents or grandparents when a commercial came on that suddenly made everyone uncomfortable. And everyone hoped the commercial would end before the youngest person in the room asked a question or your mother passed out from embarrassment. I suspect many of us have such a memory.   I certainly do.   Actually, I have a lot of them.   So what made those moments uncomfortable? Usually, it was some boundary had been crossed: a boundary of good taste, modesty, or what was (assumed) appropriate for people of different ages and levels of maturity watching together. We thought there were certain understandings about such things. Until, apparently, there weren’t. Earlier this week, I read about a controversy over advertisements appearing during baseball’s postseason playoffs. One features actress Sydney Sweeney wearing revealing underwear while promoting the sports betting platform Novig. Another features actress Megan Fox in a red ...

Wednesday night’s playoff game was not only a bitter loss for the Yankees and millions of fans everywhere, but an unexpected source of sermonic ideas that deal with living the kind of life we prayed to achieve on the High Holidays. In the sixth inning, Anthony Volpe hit what initially appeared to be a two-run home run that would have tied the game. Yankee Stadium erupted. Unfortunately, a fan reached over the outfield wall and interfered with the ball. After reviewing the play, the officials determined that it would have remained in the ballpark. The home run became a double. One run scored instead of two. The Yankees eventually lost, 4–3, and their season was over. Now for Yankees fans, there was plenty to be unhappy about. But what interested me most was manager Aaron Boone’s response afterward. “I thought they got it right.” This is not the sentence you generally expect from someone whose season has just ended. Usually, this is an excellent opportunity to question the umpires’ e...

I pride myself on writing an original Shabbat message to our synagogue family and community each week. But occasionally I come across a message from our broader Jewish community that I believe is important to share. This is one of those weeks. It is about our responsibility to vote in the upcoming elections. As a matter of federal law, and synagogue policy, the JCCP/CBT does not endorse political candidates. But we wholeheartedly and 100% endorse voting. I hope you will read the following message from our Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, encouraging every eligible member of our community to vote. *         *         *         On Tuesday, November 3, 2026, New Jerseyans will cast ballots in federal, county, municipal, school board, and other local elections. Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey encourages every eligible member of our community to make their vo...