When blogging “for the sake of heaven,” it’s easy to get the last word in when you post right before Shabbos! However, even though a new week has begun, I’m hoping my generous hosts at Beliefnet–and my colleagues who’ve graciously invited me to join their conversation–will extend my opportunity to offer some thoughts. I wrote…

I haven’t had a chance to read Rabbi Jen Krause’s book yet, but I agree with her that the rabbis were the first self-help coaches. I would add that was so because they had the first self-help manual: the Torah. If you think about it, the Torah is really all about two things: relationships and…

Rabbi Jen, I wish you were right about your description of Jewry but the facts on the ground seem to say otherwise: As many have noted there are two sides of Jewry. Rabbi Jen nicely described one side. But in virtually every city around the world, Orthodox Judaism is growing, not steadily, but by leaps…

When I learned how to study the work of the prolific medieval commentator Rashi from the wonderfully prolific Nechama Leibowitz, of blessed memory, in her tiny Jerusalem living room, she would always ask, “What’s Rashi’s question?” (or, more colorfully, as she was quite colorful: “What’s bugging Rashi?”). She was asking us to play an ancient…

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