If you are like millions of other people across the globe, you might’ve made traditional New Year’s resolutions. But most people only stick to their resolutions for a couple of weeks.
Back when I began my rabbinate, I used a paper calendar. There was something special about opening it up at the beginning of the year. It was blank. Nothing was written. Anything was possible.
Always around this time of year, and on Rosh Hashanah, I contemplate on the past year and think about what I want to achieve in the upcoming one. Last year was different for me. I appreciated and gave thanks for what I have and started my day with Modeh Ani.
This week’s Torah portion is Shemois, which means “names,” as it recalls the names of the Jewish people. Specifically, it refers to the Twelve Jewish Tribes, Rueven till Binyamin, who entered into Israel.
Thank you for all the love and caring you have shown for my mother, Ida Mour. She taught for 65 years and I have received many calls and letters from students whose hearts she touched.
The Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City mourns the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish woman to have been appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, over the Rosh Hashanah holiday.
Many Jewish friends have been commenting in social media about the decision to allow Justice Ginsburg to lay in state at both the Supreme Court and the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. For many Jews, regardless of personal observance in other areas of Jewish practice, the customs and laws surrounding death and burial are particularly sacrosanct. For many I have seen commenting, it appears that Justice Ginsburg (or her family) are bowing to non-Jewish custom at a visible moment in her life story, and she could have chosen the much more common Jewish practice of the quickest burial possible. Funeral and mourning choices are extremely personal and really should be made by the family with their own religious guides or clergy. I offer this as a way to teach about some of the Jewish values surrounding the rituals that we see playing out in the public sphere.
In last week’s Chronicle, there was a letter to the editor attacking Rabbi Bernard Rosenberg for his political beliefs (Sept. 17, “Does Trump embody Jewish values?). It is true that Rabbi Rosenberg supports President Trump. It is also true that in the United States we have the luxury and maybe the obligation to express our political beliefs, and certainly the writer has the right to disagree with Rabbi Rosenberg’s beliefs. I wonder if a personal attack on the rabbi for his beliefs is one of the Jewish values the writer seems to be an expert on.
