Douglas Sagal, at The Blogs

Douglas Sagal

Apr 11, 2024, 11:14 PM

Over the decades, when we reach the Torah portion of Tazria, I prepare myself for the inevitable expressions of outrage. Childbirth renders women ritually impure? New mothers are sequestered? How barbaric! How primitive! Women are required to offer a...

Apr 3, 2024, 1:43 AM

The day Senator Lieberman sent his regrets

Many years ago, I was a pulpit rabbi in beautiful rural Connecticut. The area I served was, to put it mildly, very "waspish". It was white, Protestant, and many of the residents well off. One of the highlights was...

Sep 22, 2022, 9:17 AM

Even rabbis need to do mitzvot

Whenever I prepare my High Holyday sermons encouraging the members of my beloved congregation to do more mitzvot, holy commandments, in the coming year, I always recall a humbling incident from years ago; It was the Friday afternoon before Simchat...

May 15, 2022, 5:29 PM

The death of Shireen Abu Akleh and the Meit Mitzva

In the diaspora, the death of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh took place as we were learning the portion of Emor. She was killed in a firefight between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen, in Jenin, a place with heavy and...

May 13, 2022, 8:09 PM

Don’t use ‘Handmaids’ to Bash the Hebrew Bible

The potential overturning of Roe V. Wade has given rise to a great deal of discussion regarding "handmaids"-the phrase made popular by author Margaret Atwood in her novel “A Handmaid’s Tale” and the subsequent television series. Many who are...

About Me

Rabbi Douglas Sagal is currently Rabbi of Congregation B'nai Israel, Rumson NJ. He has served congregations in Connecticut, Chicago, and New Jersey. He is a past president of the New Jersey Association of Reform Rabbis. Rabbi Sagal is a graduate of Wesleyan University, Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, Yale Divinity School, and is a Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute.