Author: Rabbi Jeremy Winaker

The shofar is calling. Each morning for the entire month leading up to the Jewish New Year, Rosh HaShanah, the shofar (a hollowed out ram’s horn) makes its siren song. The shofar is blown that we might hear and heed it. What is the message of these daily blasts that usher in the Jewish High Holy Days? Typical of Jewish tradition, there are many interpretations…

Hatred. Unbounded, chargeless, gratuitous is not costless. This kind of hatred has a name. In Hebrew, it is sinat chinam, literally “hatred that belongs to grace,” a hatred without rational basis, baseless hatred. Today offers a triple lesson in the need to fight against baseless hatred. We face significant issues today. Our social, political, and economic challenges breed real anger on both sides. Real anger,…

I was there. I was in the Birkenau death camp with Elie Wiesel in 1990. I had just marched from Auschwitz with thousands of Jews from around the world, mostly youths like myself at the time, as part of The March of the Living. The March of the Living commemorates Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) in Poland and Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day) in Israel. At…

We are all coming up empty. Striving for success as measured by grades, degrees, and dollars has hollowed out our souls. We have taken to competing against our own limitations to feel accomplished. It is high time we looked down at the basis for our efforts. As an educator, I am keenly aware of the dangers of a school turning into a hamster-wheel of learning,…

Everyone votes at a Passover seder, the traditional formal meal on the first night of the holiday. Who will engage in lucid conversation about policy questions meant to advance the seder project and potentially advance the Jewish people? Who will play outsider and reject the rules and format, but nevertheless conform to the project simply by asking how nothing has changed? Who will sit and…

Responses to my column last month have made me think deeply about listening. I said before we need to listen to others first rather than try convincing them by talking first. That kind of listening, though, is really not enough. We also need to listen to ourselves. The reality is that we can’t hear someone else when our souls are making turbulent, unfiltered noise. I…

Politics is one of the hardest topics for clergy to talk about. Legally, we cannot tell our communities how to vote. If it were legal, we would face the even tougher issue of backlash within our community from those who disagree. Beyond preaching the importance of participation, there is one thin line we can speak on — values. Religion, faith, and spirituality determine our value…

Just in time for this weekend, The Maccabeats, a Yeshiva University-based a capella group, left behind its usual Jewish setting of lyrics, subjects, and New York or Israel backgrounds for something seemingly very different. They joined forces with Naturally 7, an African-American a capella group, to cover James Taylor’s song “Shine A Little Light” on the site of the Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr.…

Forget the platitudes about giving and receiving. At this time of year, we are all inundated with pressure to think about gifts. Having just survived eight nights of Hanukkah with multiple children, I can tell you that neither giving gifts nor receiving them is without moral complexity. While it may be better to give than to receive, one can give poorly or receive graciously. Under…

Even the every day can be holy. The Wegmans' opening elicited reminiscences of living and feeling at home elsewhere, of excitement for the progression of a successful grocery chain, of fulfillment of a process years in the making, and a few grumbles about crowds. The tone of each reaction matches all too well the way we talk about holiday celebrations: being together with family, the…