Maury Grebenau

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Feb 28, 2025, 5:39 PM

In Those Days, In Our Times: A Purim Reflection

When we must be warned not to look at the media because our pained souls can’t take more. When words fail us in expressing emotion. When we realize that the hope of seeing young children return to the light of day...

Jul 26, 2024, 9:34 AM

Our IDF Soldiers Need Pinchas’ Covenant of Peace

“When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons. Peace will come...

Jul 14, 2024, 10:28 PM

The Intellectual and Emotional Toll of Kitzur Nefesh

Rashi (Bamidbar 21:4) וכל דבר הקשה על אדם נופל בו לשון קצור נפש, כאדם שהטורח בא עליו ואין דעתו רחבה לקבל אותו הדבר, ואין לו מקום בתוך לבו לגור שם אותו הצער Every challenging thing for a person is captured with...

Mar 25, 2024, 12:14 AM

The Megilla of Gaza

Our rabbis share many interesting ideas about the Purim story we read in Megillat Esther each year. One interesting point is that the Gemara tells us that some of the minor characters are actually people we know from other...

Feb 28, 2024, 6:20 PM

Freedom from public opinion

Bombarded by a deluge of anti-Israel sentiments in the media, on college campuses and almost everywhere else I turn, I wanted to look back and see the support Israel received in the immediate aftermath of October 7. In an...

Feb 8, 2024, 6:03 AM

Surfacing the Cost of Easy Answers

There is a significant transition in the Torah that begins in the Yitro and is completed in Mishpatim. We pivot away from the stories and personalities of the book of Bereishit and early Shemot where we have role models...

Jan 23, 2024, 11:57 AM

True Freedom Needs Justice

וַיּוֹשַׁע ה' בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִיַּד מִצְרָיִם וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת מִצְרַיִם מֵת עַל שְׂפַת הַיָּם On that day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dying, on the seashore The verse above...

Jan 14, 2024, 6:02 PM

Vision in a time of crisis

When Moshe relays Hashem’s promise of redemption at the outset of the parsha the response is anti-climactic. The Jewish people do not listen to Moshe. The pasuk gives a very specific reason that Moshe’s message is not received by...

Jan 1, 2024, 4:01 AM

Leadership: Similarities Between Claudine Gay & Yehuda

While the story of the brothers selling Yosef is more about a failure of leadership than anything else it contains important lessons about leadership. There are two brothers who make some effort to save Yosef, Reuven and Yehuda. The...

Apr 19, 2020, 11:08 PM

Reflections on Shiva during COVID-19 shelter-in-place

My father passed away on Friday March 13th, 2020. That evening the shul in our community in Dallas shut down and all minyanim essentially ceased. After the burial in New Jersey, I began my Shiva on that Monday right...

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About Me

Rabbi Dr. Maury Grebenau has worked in Jewish day school for 20 years, including leading two Jewish schools for a decade. Rabbi Grebenau has written a number of articles on educational leadership and current issues including teen health and school technology use. His articles have been published in Phi Delta Kappan, Principal Leadership and Hayidion, among others. He currently co-leads a program that supports administrators in Jewish day schools.