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Oct 6, 2024, 9:56 AM

Shofar in the Pit: Blessed is the People who Knows

The Mishnah, in the third chapter of Masechet Rosh Hashanah, presents the following scenario: It's Rosh Hashanah, and, shofar in hand, you're out for a walk. You come across some fellow Jews who are in a bor, a chavit, or...

Dec 19, 2023, 5:07 PM

Vayigash – A Call to Come Close in Traumatic Times

Now is the time to come close. Our parsha this week, Vayigash, which means to approach, to come close, is the story of Yosef and Yehuda. They are the different leaders of a family in crisis figuring out how to...

Sep 18, 2023, 10:42 PM

A Year of Emunah

Here we are, on the edge of a brand-new year, wishing each other a 'Shana Tova,' hoping and praying for health, success and sweetness for one another. I love this moment and the sense of hope and possibility it...

May 30, 2022, 10:27 PM

Walking with God after Uvalde

People mourn outside of the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas (Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP)

The Bible warns against a world where hearts are closed and cool, numbing us to the kind of grotesque, chaotic evil that takes the lives of children

Mar 12, 2020, 8:26 PM

The plague and the half-shekel cure

This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tissa begins with the threat of a plague. God orders a census to be taken, and then says that we must use a half shekel to be counted in order that “no plague may...

Aug 26, 2019, 10:31 PM

Reaching Out and Reaching up: How to Talk in Shul

It's a classic joke: A child asks her grandfather, “Zaidy, why do you go to shul every Shabbos?” The grandfather answers, “What kind of a question is that?” The child responds, “But Zaidy, you’re an atheist! You don’t believe in God! Why...

Jul 4, 2019, 2:37 PM

Korach – Defeating Demagoguery

The Torah is political. The Torah is not Democratic or Republican, Likud, or Meretz. The Torah is not partisan. The Torah does not tell us for whom to vote, or have secret codes that foretell who will win the Presidential election in...

Nov 5, 2018, 9:26 AM

Remembering Life and Confronting Hate: Chayei Sara

Today, shivas in Pittsburgh are paused; our tradition teaches us to pause public mourning on Shabbat. Yet we gather as Jews, here and across America, with so many strong and difficult feelings: sadness, anger, vulnerability, and determination. I share those...

Sep 11, 2017, 9:29 AM

Many Waters Cannot Drown Love — Responding to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov had been brooding silently for many long minutes at his Shabbos tish, when he suddenly shouted: “Gevalt! Ein shum yeush ba’olam klal!” “There is no such thing as despair in the world, at all!’ “Really?” His chassidim must...

Aug 20, 2017, 10:06 AM

When the Light Is Hidden: Responding to Hate

On Monday, at 11:54 a.m., the temperature in Skokie will begin to drop. Winds will pick up. Strange shadows will emerge, and things will get darker, and darker. And then, by 1:19 p.m., the sun will go dark. Eclipses, for...

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About Me

Rabbi Ari Hart is the spiritual leader of Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob, a modern orthodox synagogue in Skokie, Illinois.