As we approach 5786, we face three existential threats: climate change, global governance, and artificial intelligence. The first two, vast though they are, feel philosophically straightforward. We know what must be done; the tragedy is that humanity may not act before the damage is irreparable. AI, however, strikes more deeply at the level of purpose.… Read more »

Every year I can remember, as we approach Yizkor, the rabbi implores even those who have not lost a loved one to stay and daven with those who have. In my early youth, those thirty minutes were my lunch break and, for the decades that followed when I was old enough to fast, I would… Read more »

The high holidays are steeped in memories.  We remember the joy of Isaac’s birth and the trauma of his binding.  We remember the preparations for the ancient sacrifices by the high priests in the holy of holies.  With each shofar blast, we remember the destruction of the temple and our subsequent history in the diaspora.… Read more »

Down next to me in this lonely crowd, Is a man who swears he’s not to blame. All day long I hear him cry so loud, Calling out that he’s been framed. Hearing “I Shall Be Released” for the first time when I was fourteen – the year my head was exploded by Bob Dylan… Read more »

Assuming that his health holds, my father-in-law will join us for Rosh Hashanah, as he has for many years. My brother-in-law drives him from his home in Northern Virginia, and though his eyesight is failing and his gait increasingly unsteady, he will sit through the davening at Minyan M’at and slip upstairs on the second… Read more »