Chevre, Last week, I described the process by which we’ve been assessing where we are and where we’re going (https://www.bchavana.org/homepage/19690/). With this week’s missive, I would like to share general findings produced by that process. (This does not include...

Chevre, In the Torah, certain times are designated for rest and reflection. These are key elements in living life intentionally. Shabbat comes once every seven days; the sabbatical year, once every seven years; and the Jubilee, once every fifty years (the year after...

Chevre, During the Presidents’ Day weekend, Susan and I journeyed down to St. Louis to attend, for the first time, Rick Recht’s Songleader Boot Camp (SLBC). For those unfamiliar with him, Rick is a former rock ‘n roller who turned his attention to Jewish music some...

Chevre, In 1897, a visionary named Theodor Herzl joined with other Zionists to form the Zionist Congress. The Congress was the legislative body of the World Zionist Organization (WZO), a non-governmental entity that promoted Zionism. Today, the two bodies are known...

Chevre, Catching up on my reading fell into an interesting juxtaposition of articles. Just after reading “The Sex Choreographer - How Do You Stage A Sex Scene In The #MeToo Era? Call In An Intimacy Coordinator” (NY Times Magazine, Jan. 19, 2020) I read “The ‘Angels’...

Chevre, Long ago I made the intentional decision not to focus my Jewish life and mind on antisemitism, neither historical nor current. For me, there are far too many positive dimensions to Jewish life to focus on how other people define and treat us - as significant,...

Chevre, Yesterday, Sue C and I attended the interfaith, interracial celebration of Dr. King at Stone Temple Baptist Church in North Lawndale. The program was cosponsored by the church, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the JUF, and the North Lawndale...

Chevre, It's been a trying time, of late, and it appears to be getting worse instead of better - continued acts of violence around the country aimed at Jews, people of color, white churches. I have no solutions or action plans, but I know that we can come together to...

Chevre, I'm taking a little time off and not writing a complete post this week. Instead, there are two videos that I want to share with you. The first is of Sacha Baron Cohen delivering his acceptance speech upon receiving the Anti-Defamation League's International...

Chevre, As I articulated in my D’var Torah on Yom Kippur morning, white American racism is much more substantial - and profoundly disturbing - than things like “I get nervous when I’m walking down a city street and see someone black walking towards me.” My learning...