I was not born into a Zionist home. When Israel became a country in 1948 my grandparents in Cleveland left the Synagogue where Zionist Abba Hillel Silver was the rabbi and went to a new synagogue because they worried that if the Jews had a home, America would expel them much like the Germans. When…
Tag: Israel
Israel’s Worst Enemy
On the 20th yartzeit of Prime Minister Rabin and while Rabbi Ascherman heals from his wounds, we must not let their efforts towards peace be in vain.
On Civil Discourse
This originally appeared in the June/July 2015 Temple Emanuel Bulletin Friends, I write to you from a place of fear. I speak not of the fear of an Iranian nuclear bomb striking Israel (a very real fear, especially given Iran’s support of Hezbollah), but rather the fear of the fissures rippling through the American Jewish…
Prayer for Peace for all who live in Israel/Palestine
I gave this prayer to conclude a JStreet event at Temple Emanuel on 12/18/2014: Avinu Shebashamayim, God who is in Heaven, may You guide our hands to work towards creating peace in Israel/Palestine for all who dwell there. May you intend our minds and hearts to work towards peace together with all who seek peace…
Protests in Jerusalem
For the past several weeks there have been Haredim protesting the opening of a parking lot near the Jaffa gate of the Old City. Finally today I went to go witness first hand these “violent” protests. There were maybe a few hundred people there, 2/3’s Ultra-Orthodox in robes and fur hats and the other were…
Organic Dairy Farming 101
I spent the past week at חלב עם הרוח (Chalav Im HaRuach – Milk with the farm), which is an organic dairy farm in the Jezreel Vally in Northern Israel, near Yodfat. I milked goats for the first time, moved rocks, built a floor, tended the garden, fed the animals, and met some amazing people….
