Dear Micah and Noa —

July 19, 2018

I can’t believe summer has come and the time for our big adventure is finally here. You’re so lucky that you get to experience Israel for the first time at four and eight. I hope you will behave on the flight from San Francisco to Tel Aviv. Please, watch, as many movies as you want, don’t […]

The Glass is More than Half Full!

June 20, 2018

As I packed the trunk and buckled the kids in and set off for Camp Newman by the Bay, it dawned on me that this would be the longest drive I have ever taken to Camp Newman. Until this summer I have been the most blessed rabbi living only ten minutes from camp, my home […]

Silence and Healing

May 11, 2018

I’m writing this on the plane back from a seven-day silent retreat offered by the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. It’s the first of three I will attend as part of a Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teachers program. The retreat was at Isabella Freedman, a rustic but beautiful Jewish camp, built around a small lake in New England’s […]

A Lesson in Hope

March 20, 2018

When you think about all the challenges we face, it is easy to be cynical or just give up. Remaining hopeful in a world where so much seems out of our control and where we know so much is an essential spiritual challenge. Thank God for Pesach because Pesach is a lesson in hope. It’s all in this story… […]

Passover is Coming

February 21, 2018

Passover is steeped with many lessons, all of which are relevant in the 21st century. Most years, when thinking about the symbolism of the seder plate, I focus on the sweetness of the escape from slavery while eating charoset, the complicated tears while dipping parsley into salt water, the smearing of the lamb’s blood while lifting up the […]

Trees and Hope: A Tu BiSh’vat Reflection

January 23, 2018

  There is hope for a tree; If it is cut down it will renew itself; Its shoots will not cease. — Job 14:7-9 The wind and the smell of smoke woke us. We stumbled out of bed and joined our neighbors in the cul-de-sac to stare at the raw, red glow lighting up the […]

What We Take With Us

November 8, 2017

Rabbi George’s talk, “What we take from our homes when we flee for our lives”, was delivered as part of the interfaith healing service at The Center for Spiritual Living a week after the fire: The wind woke Laura up. She smelled smoke, walked out our front door into the court and saw the fire […]

Mourning the Fire

October 27, 2017

Over the past week, I came to the realization that the dominant framework for what we are all experiencing after the fires is loss, grief and mourning, as if someone or something died. When we lose a loved one, shock and bewilderment come first. Next, comes brain fog – “Why can’t I think straight!” –, […]

Hurricane Harvey

August 31, 2017

As the High Holy days approach, I turn inward. I take a personal accounting of my actions, words and thoughts. I also start to focus on the liturgy. I find that some of the metaphors and prayers offered throughout the days of awe are more easily digestible than others. Some years, the God who sits […]

Sheet Cake

August 22, 2017

I have never liked cheap humor, slapstick comedy or potty humor. I love satires, which is not completely surprising, since I am a tad bit sarcastic. Satire is cerebral and pithy, carefully crafted to make you think. It contains elements of truth twisted with fantasy, and it is up to the viewer to interpret a […]