The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are well known. While the Bible narrates the contemptible way in which the citizens of those towns treated Lot and his angelic guests, our Midrashic literature pursues the question still further. Just how wicked could the inhabitants be to warrant Divine destruction of these cities? Many examples are given…. Read more »
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Posts Categorized: Rabbi’s Remarks
End of the Summer, Beginning of the Year
Summer is on the wane; the daylight hours imperceptibly shorter one by one as the month ticks by, and Earth speeds on in its orbit. Around the meeting point of summer and fall lie our great holidays: Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Sh’mini Atzeret. Metaphorically, spring symbolizes birth, summer—growth and productivity, fall—the onset of… Read more »
How Sweet the Sound
August 11th, 2014, a series of events in Ferguson, Missouri sent shock waves across our nation. A festering wound deeply felt by our African American citizens could no longer be ignored. Despite calls for a peaceful reaction, emotions veered out of control. In the months that followed we witnessed on our screens, and read in… Read more »
Three Years Ago…
Just a litte more than three years ago I fell in love with a congregation. There was something genuine about the people I met; a lack of pretension; a sincere desire to move forward into the uncharted waters of the future. Above all, I felt a sense of community; one made up of many diverse,… Read more »
Ask the Rabbi: Kosher Curiosities
Use the comment section to ask your questions on keeping Kosher, and we’ll answer them… Dear Rabbi; We are learning about keeping kosher. It’s nice when we have a Hekhsher (kosher symbol) telling us that the processed item is kosher. What do we do when there is no Hekhsher on the item? Is there a… Read more »
Is There a Pray-er in the House?
My dad, Rabbi Meyer Miller, was ordained at the Jewish Institute of Religion (the Reform Rabbinical School in New York City). I grew up a P-K (preacher’s kid). At that point in social history, attending services wasn’t a choice. I remember chomping at the bit for services to come to an end. I would sit… Read more »
The beauty of Daily Minyans
I actually started davening (attending minyan services) regularly at my first pulpit, Temple of Aaron, St. Paul MN, back in the mid seventies. I found that getting together with fellow daveners bracketed my day in a unique way. The ideas expressed through the prayers covered the spectrum of emotions from “thanks” to “hope” to “seeking”… Read more »
A Speech by the Israeli Vice Ambassador to Norway
I would love to have everybody read the September 27, 2014 speechgiven in Oslo by the Israeli Vice Ambassador to Norway, George Deek. It so totally makes the point of my Kol Nidre sermon. Please see the current Shofar to read this long but very worthwhile speech. Thanks to our recent guest speaker at Beth… Read more »
New Year, New Hope
New Year, New Hope: These days you have to have a strong heart to listen to the news! ISIS, Gaza, Russia, Ukraine, Ebola, the Border Immigration Crisis and the drought to name just some. Sometimes one wonders if the world is coming apart at the seams. The level of inhumanity in some areas borders the… Read more »
Rabbi’s Remarks: “Past Imperfect, Future Tense”
My late father, Rabbi Meyer Miller, found this “grammatical” headline intriguing. I actually think he may have used it as a title for a Rosh Hashanah sermon or two! Even thirty years ago it captured the world political situation. For whatever reason, we human beings appear incapable of learning the lessons of history. Or perhaps… Read more »