by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar For obvious reasons, I’ve been thinking a lot about the weather over these last couple of weeks. Perhaps it started when I spent an hour and a half shoveling snow to get our car dislodged, finally understanding the Philly practice of sticking a lawn chair in
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat of Song. That is because, in celebration of becoming Bat Mitzvah, Yaeli Zhang will lead us in the chanting of a very special song, Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea. We’ve already gotten a taste of
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Three stories sit heavily on my heart this week. First, the return to Israel on Monday of the remains of the last hostage in the Gaza Strip, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili z”l, taken captive by Palestinian Islamic Jihad some 842 days before his return. These were
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Two rabbinic leadership organizations of which I am a part, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, joined together in a cross-denominational statement, along with all other major institutions in the Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist movements, against violent immigration enforcement. You
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar It’s been a head-spinning time in world events. Last week we witnessed the capture of Venezuela’s President in a US military raid and his subsequent arraignment on drugs and weapons charges, as well as the killing of a U.S. Citizen, Renee Nicole Good, 37, in Minneapolis
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I’ve found myself wrestling recently with the question of whether or not there is such a thing as a prototypical “Jewish sensibility.” The answer is: probably not. If, as the old joke goes, two Jews means three opinions, and since, if anything, Jewish tradition has always