Torah Geek

It almost goes without saying that it is good for kids to get offline and go outside, it is exactly what we expect to happen at summer camp. The same can be said for adults.  The internet at camp is notoriously bad. The geography of camp and the set up of the wireless service makes it impossible to use your phone and the computer at the same time. Plus, the phone service and 3G service was so sporadic it was like living in a Verizon commercial “Can you hear me now?” While that may sound like it is not such a big deal, it does make doing anything online or over the phone very inconvenient. For two weeks my iPhone was reduced to a mere camera, and I could not even post photos to facebook without driving down the hill to the coffee shop.  At first this is frustrating, every summer it takes me a day or two to adjust to life without e-mail or voice mail, I start off feeling disconnected, like I have no idea what is going on outside of camp. How do I know something happened ...

When we finished tying your tzitzit you took the most important step of becoming a Bat Mitzvah. It was not the act of tying the fringes; it was the moment when you realized that it was yours.  Truly yours — not just as a possession, but something beyond that. You made it yours by the work you put in and by connecting each knot to your hopes and dreams, to the things you are grateful for, and to your own understanding of what it means to be a  Jewish adult. I made this tallit for you last summer with your dad, but it is you who completed it. Today we will literally hand you the Torah, passing on our values to you, but it is up to you what you will do with it. Just like your tallit, you will make Judaism your own. The painted corners of your tallit represent the journey our ancestors took to the Promised Land, as well as your own journey; these are my blessings for you at this stage in your life’s journey. May you always be able t...

You can read my Yom Kippur Sermon here

I am writing while I am sitting in my sukkah this morning. Sukkot is my favorite holiday and I try to enjoy my sukkah as much as possible during the week that it stands in my yard. My family and I eat, read, work and even sleep in our sukkah. I look forward to it all year and I am always a little sad to take it down at the end of sukkot. This year I was not sure our sukkah was going to last until the holiday started — the winds were over 20 mph and I was sure the whole thing was going to fall apart. With lots of rope and sandbags my husband managed to keep our sukkah upright, but it was a very clear physical reminder that a sukkah is supposed to be temporary and offers little protection from the elements. I sat down this morning to write about how much I love my sukkah and how part of my enjoyment is accepting that it is only temporary. And then my friend Rabbi Lisa Levenberg posted this article from the New York Times and I realized how trivial anything I could say would be....

This Rosh Hashanah I talked about Google and how we need to let ourselves be uncomfortable in order to grow. You can read it here .

This morning I read that Michelle Bachmann is blaming the recent earthquake and hurricane on God . While this is not the only ridiculous thing she said recently, I take particular issue with her suggestion that she knows how God works. God does not control the weather. I have written before about how hurricanes and earthquakes happen because they are part of nature—not to punish us. Even if I did believe that God uses nature to punish humanity, how would Senator Bachmann know what we are supposedly being punished for? She seems certain that God is sending a message to politician s. The antidote to Michelle Bachmann is this article by Rabbi Edward Bernstein . God does not use the weather to punish us, and certainly I can't believe in a God who would kill 35 people in a hurricane to prove a political point. I do believe that there are consequences for our actions. Although God does not control the weather to reward and punish humanity, we certainly punish ourselves when we...

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions... John Tierney,  The New York Times'  science columnist, recently wrote an article about decision fatigue: the idea that our ability to make a decision gets degraded from making hundreds of small decisions throughout the day. The more we choose, the less able we are to make more choices. The Torah (always ahead of its time) teaches us in this week's portion that there are only two choices we need consider: blessing and curse. Blessings will abound if you follow the commandments and curses if you do not- the obvious decision, in any case, is to follow the commandments. The portion then provides lists of commandments about where to worship, how to worship, what to eat, how to mourn, and how to celebrate the major festivals. As Reform Jews we often struggle with the concept of  mitzvot  and what it means to be commanded. And yet we are very aware that we are all Jews by choice -- we define our Jewish identity by the choices we make...