Some words of Torah. We live in a country that has copyright law and protections for intellectual property. Ultimately, those laws are on the books primarily for commercial reasons. While these rules have their inspiration, therefore, in economic concerns, they also assume that there is something such as creativity. Specifically, they assume that inventors, businesses and artists can bring into the world something novel, something that didn’t exist before.
Yesterday, the Nobel Committee awarded its prize for literature to a very worthy writer, the American poet Louise Glück. Her verse is stark, controlled, tight. You read her poems, and you think, “the words are simple, the lines are clear, but their meaning is elusive.” That would bother some. For other readers, that is the source of their power and grace.
By now, you are aware that the president and first lady have contracted coronavirus. Among some rabbis, people were asking, should we include the president’s name on our misheberach list? Should we offer prayers of healing?
Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg left her chambers for the final time in the waning minutes of 5780. Learning of her death two hours before our Erev Rosh Hashanah services felt like a punch to the gut. What a devastating loss to our nation.
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5781 – September 18, 2020 Rabbi David Kosak, Klal Gadol B’Torah: A Story of Love and Loss in a Time of Pandemic – Text Rosh Hashanah 5781 (Day 1) – September 19, 2020 Rabbi Eve Posen, The Power We Give – Text Erev Yom Kippur 5781 – September 27, 2020 Rabbi David Kosak, The Best of Times/The Worst of Times – Text (This sermon was designed for video, and ... Read More
In the last week or so, congregant Carolyn Weinstein sent me a moving video about a WWII colonel from Tennessee, Roddie Edmonds. Given the era and where he grew up, the army was the first time he had met Jews. As things transpired, many Jews served under his leadership. He and his unit were captured by the Germans, and spent the last days of the war in a POW camp.
Let me begin by sending you my prayers and blessings. I sincerely hope that you are safe. It seems we are faced with one trial after another, and these fires are just the latest challenge. Just this morning, I was taping shut our basement door, which is probably original to our 73 year old home. After all that time, it doesn’t form the tightest seal, and smoke was infiltrating. The masking tape seems to have stopped most of that.
