To be lost in America is a bit like being lost in Los Angeles, a feeling that I still have after five years here.

“Can I still be Jewish if I don’t believe in God?” I am asked by many of my students. “Do you have a Jewish parent?” I ask back. I then of course proceeded to explain to them how Jews in Germany who did not practice Judaism for a single day in their lives, were murdered because it was discovered that they had a Jewish grandparent…

עס איז נישט געװען איר שװער צו זען די ראָזענבערגס װי קרבנות פֿון אַמעריקנישע נאַציס און זייער יודענראַט, זײערע קאַפּאָס.

The calendar is what connects the Diaspora to the Land. No matter where we live, we live under the same sky.

They wanted to know if I thought that the end of the world was imminent. This was no joke.

What is just for one person, may be unjust or unfair to another. Humans are complex and hold complex needs, but yet we must apply the law in a way which is inclusive to everyone.

“Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: On them, and on them; all, like all; words, the words; Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, and Aggadah. Even what a competent student will discover before his teacher was said to Moses on Sinai. What is the reason? (Eccl. 1:10) “There is something about which one would say, look, this is new!” His colleague will answer, “it already has been forever.”

As the world is currently facing a crisis of leadership, it is interesting to ask, what made Moses such a great and unique leader?