Tisha B’Av, the 9th of the Jewish month of Av, is a day of mourning.

Social Justice in Judaism most often looks like Tikkun Olam. The Hebrew phrase means “Repairing the world.”

Do you value your members and congregants, or do you really only value their money?

Our son was called to the Torah for his bar mitzvah ceremony just weeks after the shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburg. In the wake of that horror, we had to step back and decide what we did and didn’t want to do for his ceremony. We opted to continue as planned, although with a guard at the door. That event weighed heavily on my mind as I wrote this speech for his ceremony.

This is a line from the Ashrei prayer. Ashrei is a prayer typically recited three times a day by observant Jews.

During Yom Kippur we recite prayers where we hit our chest as we recite each transgression.