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Sep 17, 2026, 8:32 PM

I Miss the Mistakes

I miss typos. I miss misspelled words, sentences that go on too long and emails that end without quite knowing how to end. I miss bulletin articles with clumsy transitions. I miss sermons that take a strange turn because...

Sep 3, 2026, 5:04 AM

How to Get Kicked Out of Camp and Remain Religiously Intact – Part II

Continued from Part I Before packing our belongings, our group of five needed to let our parents know that we’d be coming home earlier than expected. While I don’t know how the other guys broke the news to their parents,...

Sep 2, 2026, 10:23 PM

The Night Before, The Night Before Rosh Hashanah

Poor guy, how is he going to get to sleep?

Twas the night before the night before Rosh Hashanah and all through the land, the rabbis were schvitzing, were their services all planned? Were the sermons long enough to make people know that it was not Shabbos they were there...

Sep 2, 2026, 9:03 PM

Tradition Meets Medicine: Why Europe’s New Mohel Certification Matters

2012 by Zviya, Used with permission Creative Commons

The news breaking out of Brussels this week caught my eye, and it struck me that what began as a legal crisis in Belgium might just be a blessing in disguise. According to a report in Times of Israel, European...

Sep 2, 2026, 8:51 PM

Nitzavim–Vayelech: No Violence in the Name of Torah or the Land

Near the end of Parashat Nitzavim, Moses makes an enigmatic statement: “The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to fulfill all the words of this Torah”...

Sep 2, 2026, 5:16 AM

How to Get Kicked Out of Camp and Remain Religiously Intact – Part I

I’m proud to have recently completed my tenth year as the Rabbi of the Young Israel of Memphis (TN). During that time, it’s also been a privilege to teach Torah to high school students at Memphis’ Cooper Yeshiva of...

Aug 28, 2026, 6:36 AM

Bring Your Congregation into the Black Book of Life

Times are Tough for Temples

Congregations across the United States and around the world are struggling to keep their doors open. Fewer people are becoming members; synagogues and temples are being forced to merge to be financially viable; even twice-a-year Jews are dwindling. Part...

Karen Reiss Medwed

Aug 25, 2026, 3:26 PM

The Rabbis Who Didn’t Sell Their Houses

Last week, seventeen new rabbinical students began their studies with Hebrew Union College. None of them sold their house, or moved to a new town, to do it. And still, to launch their studies as Rabbinical School students, we...

Aug 20, 2026, 6:01 AM

The High Holy Day Survival Guide for Partners of Rabbis

Wisdom Within

If you find yourself in a new relationship with a Rabbi, this short survival guide for making it out of the High Holy Day Season alive is a must-read. If you know of, or are related to someone in a...

Salior Ben Hamou

Aug 11, 2026, 6:08 AM

Hague Convention Case With Excess Legal Baggage

Two doctors, three countries, two children—and one court forced to answer the great question of international family law: Who pays for Mom’s plane ticket? People imagine international child-abduction cases as legal thrillers. A parent crosses a border. Emergency papers are filed....

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