Richard Block

A Leading American Rabbi

Apply for a Blog

Oct 27, 2024, 12:31 PM

To Mourn, To Dance, To Hope

A beloved passage from Ecclesiastes sees life as a series of dichotomies, of diverse "seasons," with a "time for every experience under heaven...a time to be born and a time to die...a time to mourn and a time to...

Oct 14, 2024, 7:55 AM

Climbing Torah’s Ladder: Being, Becoming, Holiness

The finish line of Yom Kippur’s spiritual, ethical, and emotional marathon draws in sight as we reach Mincha. But even if we’re feeling hungry, thirsty, and exhausted at that point, with apologies to Robert Frost, we have miles to...

Sep 9, 2024, 11:16 PM

Could Bibi Be Right?

Consider this narrative: Bibi Netanyahu is a dangerous, unprincipled, unscrupulous, corrupt, divisive, mendacious and wholly untrustworthy leader. As prime minister, he was the chief architect of Israel’s longstanding policy of coddling and encouraging the funding of Hamas and bears...

Dec 19, 2022, 10:43 AM

Boycott Israel? Then Boycott Its Lifesaving Advances

Israel's detractors often demand that corporations, academic institutions and others boycott the Jewish State. The First Amendment guarantees free speech, but it does not justify self-righteousness, self-contradiction or self-sabotage. Nor can it disguise the critics' failure to impact Israel...

Dec 29, 2021, 8:13 AM

130 Inspiring Israel Headlines from 2021

What word best describes a country that: Pioneers revolutionary treatments for Covid, ALS, ADHD, autism, brain, skin, bladder and pancreatic cancer, heart attacks and strokes, blindness, nerve damage, Alzheimer’s, bacterial infections, Parkinson’s, glaucoma and tuberculosis? Sends medical and disaster relief teams...

Jan 8, 2021, 10:02 AM

A date which will live in infamy… and blessing

After the US Capitol was purged of the crazed mob incited to seditious violence by a pathologically narcissistic president, shaken congressional leaders reflected on events of the day. Assessing the insurrection unleashed by a chief executive lacking regard for...

Dec 21, 2020, 7:26 AM

120 inspiring Israel headlines in 2020

It's almost a law of nature. Today's media fixation displaces the prior one and bad news drives out good. In 2020, COVID-19 and the US presidential election sucked the oxygen from other topics, large and small, including Israel. Its...

Sep 27, 2020, 8:11 AM

The Questions I Wish I Had Asked

A man phones his mother. She answers in a very faint voice, "Hello." He asks, "Mom, how are you?" She replies, "Very weak." "Why are you weak?" "I haven't eaten in 27 days." "Why haven't you eaten in 27...

Sep 14, 2020, 6:54 AM

The meaning and miracle of you: A Rosh Hashana reflection in a time of turmoil

In the unending nightmare of Auschwitz, Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl wondered “What is the meaning of life?" In the landmark book he began writing there, Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl held this to be a meaningless question because it...

Aug 28, 2020, 7:13 AM

The Character of Leadership

A newly hired rabbi arrived to find his congregation in turmoil. One group of congregants insisted that worshipers should stand for the Shema, while another contended with equal passion that they must remain seated. What’s more, both sides claimed...

Load more

About Me

Rabbi Richard Block, recognized by Newsweek as "one of the top 25 pulpit rabbis in America" is a Past President and chairs the Past Presidents Council of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the rabbinic leadership organization of Reform Judaism, Senior Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Mishkan Or, Cleveland, OH and Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth Am, Los Altos Hills, CA. He is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Israel and maintains homes in both countries.

Contact Me