Edward Bernstein, at The Blogs

Edward Bernstein

Rabbi, Chaplain, Educator, Writer, Husband, Father

May 27, 2020, 10:03 PM

My teacher: Searching for “textpeople” who loved us into being

As a child in the early 1980s, television was much more limited than it is today. Cable TV was barely getting started. Netflix didn’t exist. My family did not own a VCR. I grew up watching what was available...

Apr 14, 2020, 10:20 AM

The Blessing of Zoom: ‘Dukhening’ In an Online Service

Kohanim perform the ritual blessing of the congregation over Zoom. Screenshot photo by author.

I remember the penetrating power and mystery of the moment. As a teenager touring Israel for the first time, I attended Shabbat morning services with my group in a Jerusalem synagogue. During the repetition of the Amidah prayer, several...

Mar 31, 2020, 10:42 AM

A Shul online service critic is born

Kaddish at home. (Photo montage, Gil Be'eri)

In the Mel Brooks classic History of the World, Part I, a cave dweller of two million years ago displays to his friends his painting of a horse on the cave wall. An omniscient narrator, voiced by Orson Welles,...

About Me

Rabbi Edward Bernstein serves as Chaplain for Vitas Healthcare in Palm Beach County, Florida, and hosts the My Teacher Podcast. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999 and served congregations in New Rochelle, NY, Beachwood, OH, and Boynton Beach, FL. He edited Love Finer Than Wine: The Writings of Matthew Eisenfeld and Sara Duker, a 2016 National Jewish Book Awards Finalist. He has served on the faculty of Camp Ramah Darom, Moishe House and the JTS Florida Office.