This week, our President decided that the military will no longer permit transgender people to serve. The suddenness of this policy shift, first announced on the President’s twitter feed, has created uncertainty and confusion for both top military brass as well as for a great many individuals who felt a compulsion to give back to our nation.
One of the hardest parts for me about spending time in Israel is the way my brain works with foreign languages. I am easily able to understand Hebrew in written or oral form, but when it comes to actually speaking the language, sometimes I’m at a loss.
In recent years, we have seen an increase in Jews who choose cremation for their deceased relatives or themselves. Some choose this for economic reasons (our community provides dignified burial for the indigent). There are people who are concerned about land use and worry that over the next two centuries, cemeteries will not be sustainable.
Hannah Glass, one of Neveh Shalom’s seniors, once told me, “God is the explanation for those things we simply cannot understand.” Not only is it Jewish nature to wrestle with God, it is human nature. In a world that relies on physical evidence, a being that cannot be physically seen or touched is difficult to believe in at times.
D'var from Saturday, July 15th - Rabbi David Kosak. Recorded and edited by Ed Kraus.
This week’s parashah is Pinchas. The story of Pinchas, and the rabbinic response to his actions, highlight the Jewish capacity to wrestle with morally difficult episodes without yielding to simplistic explanations. The story itself is spread over two week’s readings and is worth a quick recap.
I love learning about my family history. My grandparents all did a fairly decent job of remembering and recalling details about cousins, aunts, and uncles from generations back. They could pick up an old photograph and instantly recall the name of the person and how they were connected to the rest of the family.
