Joseph H. Prouser
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Joseph H. Prouser

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Dec 7, 2017, 5:04 PM
More joy. Less oy.
A Muslim resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras-al-Amud was widely and enthusiastically celebrated by Jewish media outlets this fall. Ihab, a bus driver, decorated the Egged bus that he drives to look like a succah, in celebration of the joyous Jewish harvest festival....
Oct 20, 2017, 12:04 AM
Don’t wail about the Kotel … deserve it
“Avinu she-ba-shamayim, Rock and Redeemer of the People Israel: Bless the State of Israel with its promise of redemption.” My congregation offered these words of prayer and blessing on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, just as we do each and every Shabbat morning. We will...
Aug 3, 2017, 8:55 PM
To bigotry no sanction
Trump knocked 30K Boy Scouts, implying they lack the diversity, openness, and mutual respect that are their inheritance
Jul 13, 2017, 7:29 PM
Ask the question, take the action
As the Jewish community observes the doleful three weeks culminating in the fast of Tisha B’Av, we focus our attention on our long history of loss, destruction, and displacement. Tisha B’Av recalls the Babylonians’ destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians on the...
Jun 9, 2017, 12:48 AM
The US, the fate of liberty, and the fate of the USS Liberty
The Jewish world, together with supporters of the Zionist dream beyond our communal borders, find ourselves in heady times as we celebrate the fiftieth anniversaries of the liberation of Jerusalem and the Israeli victories of the 1967 Six Day War. We look ahead with grateful...
Apr 7, 2017, 12:22 AM
The seder, the four children — and a barbershop quartet
In relating the parental obligation to teach the younger generation about the Exodus, the Torah is understood to allude to four different types of children. One is analytical and so appears to be wise. One is indelicate in asking questions and so appears to be...
Mar 16, 2017, 10:53 PM
Rabbinic wisdom on the Muslim ban — 120 years later
The Immigration Act of 1891 banned polygamists from entering the United States. It was passed during the administration of President Benjamin Harrison. Later, when he was president, Theodore Roosevelt expanded that ban to include all who believed in polygamy as a religious principle, whether or...
Feb 16, 2017, 4:26 PM
‘Lest we swallow each other alive’ — Remembering Rev. Peter Marshall
More than 2,500 years ago, the Prophet Jeremiah warned, “Seek the peace and well-being of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its peace and well-being you will find your peace and well-being”...
Jan 5, 2017, 7:18 PM
The truth Hertz
Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz is remembered by many as the late, great chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, serving in that high office from 1913 to 1946, leading a vast Jewish community through both world wars. He previously had served congregations in Syracuse, N.Y., Manhattan,...
Dec 22, 2016, 7:50 PM
A haftarah for Christmas
As any bar or bat mitzvah celebrant can explain, the haftarah is a passage (or passages) selected from among the prophets, and chanted on Shabbat, holy days, and festivals, following the prescribed Torah reading of the day. There always is a thematic, literary, or theological...
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About Me
Joseph Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey in Franklin Lakes.