Open Search form

Jonathan Leener

Apply for a Blog

Nov 6, 2025, 10:08 PM

Was Kristallnacht the Beginning of the Holocaust?

US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Trudy Isenberg

As the anniversary of Kristallnacht approaches, we’re reminded of a question that still resists easy answers: When did the Holocaust begin? Identifying an “official” beginning to the Holocaust has long been debated by scholars and historians. Was it the...

Feb 6, 2024, 1:53 AM

Trauma’s Enduring Legacy: Auschwitz to Kfar Aza

The main gate of the Wöbbelin concentration camp. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/woebbelin

As the sun set on an early May day in 1945, my grandfather entered the barbed wire fences of Wöbbelin Concentration Camp in Germany. Despite the emerging darkness, the horrors perpetrated by the Nazi regime were illuminated with horrifying...

Jan 27, 2021, 6:22 PM

48 Hours in Auschwitz

Last year I took a forty-eight hour trip to Poland for the seventy-fifth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. I went with a small delegation of rabbis to protest and raise awareness to the ongoing existence of a church...

Oct 22, 2020, 9:37 AM

Noah’s Ark in COVID

In most years, the story of Noah and the flood feels overly distant and unrelatable. Living in the comforts of the modern world, it’s hard to imagine a time of such instability and destruction as in the days of...

Mar 18, 2019, 3:08 PM

My Zayde’s Megillah

Beneath the pile of dusted books I feel something different. It has a distinctive and even familiar feeling to it. It seems to be of significance, maybe old run down leather. My arm is completely submerged in the cardboard...

Jan 29, 2019, 10:31 PM

Trump’s Biblical Literacy

President Trump tweeted yesterday about his excitement over certain states introducing "Bible Literacy classes" in schools. I think the White House should also consider offering these classes to the president. Here are some verses from the Bible that deal...

Dec 26, 2018, 10:47 PM

American Jews & Guns

In the aftermath of the horrific shooting at The Tree of Life Synagogue — I took members of my community to Pittsburgh to bear witness to the fact that American Jews in 2018 can be murdered in a synagogue....

Nov 28, 2018, 10:30 PM

The Dreamer & The Shepherd: Parshat Yayeshev

The Torah, especially the book of Genesis is infatuated with the nature of sibling relationships as it continually wrestles with Cain’s first question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”. In other words, what level of responsibility do I have to...

Oct 28, 2018, 4:25 PM

Letter to Jewish Congressman who receive NRA money

Dear Congressman Lee Zeldin & Congressman David Kustoff, I recently took note that you’ve received $14,850 from the NRA since 2015. As a rabbi and citizen of the State of New York I find this reprehensible as the NRA...

Mar 10, 2017, 7:31 PM

Why I Love Purim

Purim is not simply a holiday—it's a state of being. One is obligated to become intoxicated ON Purim, but more importantly IN Purim—in the essence of the the day itself. On Purim we believe that: The world can change in a heartbeat...

Load more

About Me

Jonathan Leener is the rabbi of the Prospect Heights Shul in Brooklyn.

Contact Me