Rabbi Bruce's Reflections on Life

 Dear Friends, As we celebrate the Bar Mitzvah of our oldest grandson this weekend, I wanted to share a couple of thoughts. Among my favorite song lyrics are the words from the song which I remember being sung by the Sandpipers (I must really be old, does anyone remember them?) called Guantanamera. "A little brook on a mountain, the cooling spray of a fountain, arouse in me an emotion more than the vast boundless ocean. For there's a wealth beyond measure in little things that we treasure" A Bar Mitzvah is not a little thing and yet this week in the Torah reading, we begin the book of Leviticus.  There is a grammatical reason for the small "aleph" ( a Hebrew letter sounding like "a") which concludes the first word.  The first word of the book ends with "aleph" and the second word begins with "aleph" so there is some reason to believe that the small "aleph" is to let the reader know that it may have been added by those who

 Dear Friends, This is a longer article this week because I was so inspired by the column by Jonathan Sacks of blessed memory, from which I include excerpts  As we conclude reading the book of Exodus, I hope that we will all be strong and strengthen each other.  As many of you know it is customary upon the completion of reading a book of the Torah  to say Hazak, Hazak, v'Nithazek, may we be strong and strengthen each other. In a Covenant and Conversation Column (please search for Jonathan Sacks on any weekly portion and read his column) , Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes, If leaders are to bring out the best in those they lead, they must give them the chance to show they are capable of great things, and then   they must celebrate their achievements . That is what happens at a key moment toward the end of our parsha, one that brings the book of Exodus to a sublime conclusion after all the strife that has gone before. The Israelites have finally completed the work of building the Tabernac

 Dear Friends, A question for you.... This Shabbat we read about the incident of the Golden Calf from the Biblical book of Exodus. Should we consider it the "sin" of the Golden Calf, the "episode" of the Golden Calf, the "incident" of the Golden Calf or something else? Moses disappeared up Mt. Sinai to have his meeting with G-d and return with the Torah, Ten Commandments or whatever we believe Moses received from G-d during those 40 days.  Our ancestors were getting lonely and afraid that perhaps their leader wasn't going to return. So they built a Golden Calf... Was it an idol, was it a substitute for G-d, or was it something that would keep our ancestors' minds and hearts occupied? Let's think about our American Jewish experience.  How much effort do we put into our worship of G-d through attending services?  How much effort do we put into the raising of funds for our synagogue buildings?  Would we suggest that our building funds are the mode

 Dear Friends, On our calendar cycle we are celebrating Shabbat Zachor, as we remember Amalek from Biblical days and then celebrate Purim later in the week which commemorates the victory over Haman and the survival of the Jewish people. We are living during challenging times and as we remember the past, I wonder what people will remember about us. Will we be remembered for acts of kindness? Will we be remembered as supporting Israel during a time in which the government policies may be threatening democracy? Will we be remembered as the oppressor rather than the victim in the MIddle East due to current government policies? Will we be remembered as those who spoke out for human rights? As we think about the meaning of the Purim story, I hope we will be remembered as those who performed the mitzvah of mishloach manot (giving gifts) and/or as those who performed matanot l'evyonim (giving gifts to the poor). Finally, I am reminded of one of my  parents' favorite poems, Abou Ben Adh