Daniel A. Weiner, at The Blogs

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May 6, 2024, 11:38 PM

Living In the Gray

Paradoxes are as puzzling and engaging as they are perplexing and frustrating. The most famous emerge from philosophy and faith traditions. Zen koans posit imponderables, like: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” These force us to venture...

Oct 14, 2023, 6:06 PM

A Tale of Two Cities

We can scarcely imagine the scene of total devastation that young POW Kurt Vonnegut encountered as he emerged, bleary-eyed, from a meat locker after the firebombing of Dresden, Germany in February 1945. The utter destruction and loss of life...

Oct 6, 2023, 6:08 AM

From Yom Kippur to Yom Kippur

When I was nine, I wanted to spend as much time with my father as possible. I pretended to shave in the bathroom with him, went on bike rides in Marin County overlooking the San Francisco skyline, and watched...

Jun 20, 2022, 12:55 AM

Faithful Compromise

An old but insightful joke: Two parties approach a rabbi to resolve their dispute. After the first states her case, the rabbi exclaims, “You are right!” The second party objects and passionately offers a counter argument. The rabbi responds...

Nov 18, 2020, 12:10 AM

Debate, Denial, and The Will to Endure

Every dispute that is for the sake of Heaven, will in the end endure; But one that is not for the sake of Heaven, will not endure. Which is the controversy that is for the sake of Heaven? Such...

Sep 2, 2020, 10:48 PM

Timely Teshuvah

As I’m reading Eddie Glaude’s evocative and incisive new book (Begin Again) on the current state of race relations seen through the prism of the works of the eminent intellectual James Baldwin, one realization is abundantly clear: The vital...

May 13, 2020, 12:34 AM

The Bearded Malady

It began as an act of laziness, I admit it. Over the years, vacation or illness had provided ample excuse to liberate my routine and my face from the rigors and razor burn of daily manscaping. There was the...

Apr 2, 2020, 10:34 PM

After the Flood

Our times compel a search for wisdom, if not distraction. We survey the landscape of snarky-yet-telling memes and self help bromides. Eventually, when eyes weary of our umbilical, glowing beacons, we plumb the depths of more enduring traditions. Perhaps...

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About Me

Senior Rabbi Daniel Weiner believes passionately in building Judaism for the 21st century and in healing the world through social justice. Temple De Hirsch Sinai has grown to more than 5000 members and 1,600 families in two campuses in Seattle and Bellevue since he took charge in 2001. He has served congregations in Baltimore, Maryland and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His innovations in worship include producing “rabcasts” on video, streaming services on the internet, and leading a rock band in popular Rock Shabbat services.

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