Rabbi's Musings

Do Jews Believe in Angels? 

Angels have always played a big role in Judaism, from the Bible onward. There are angels that appear to give a divine message, and sometimes they appear as humans but have a sacred mission. The Hebrew word for angel, malakh, means “messenger”. Early prayers of the ancient rabbis featured angels, including the main prayer that declares God’s...Read more...

Why Be Jewish?
Ralph Stephenson asks the question, “Why Be Jewish?” Not an easy question to answer but an important one!

Here are some usual answers:

Why be Jewish?

What Does Judaism Say About Astrology?

The skies have always been a source of fascination for people, but they have also been a source of future wisdom. Some have even worshipped the stars. While rejecting the divine element of stargazing, ancient rabbis believed in the wisdom that stars can provide. When we wish each other “mazel tov” we are saying that the person should be...Read more...

What Does Judaism Say About Psychoanalysis?

So, I have been reading this new book, Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947, by Norman Lebrecht, and, among many other famous Jews, Sigmund Freud is featured. He was a genius and he thought a lot about anxiety. He was such an important teacher that many of his disciples considered him their “rabbi”. But is...Read more...

What is the Difference Between the Jewish New Year and the Secular New Year?

On one level this question is absurd in that we all know there is a difference. No one ends up at synagogue on Rosh Hashanah with a lampshade on their head! New Year’s Eve in the secular world is about celebration, fitness resolutions, and Times Square. Rosh Hashanah is about forgiveness, judgment, moral...Read more...

Is Judaism a Nation or a Religion?

The recent executive order – or at least the hubbub surrounding it -- calls forth the question of identity. Irrespective of how one feels about the order – or the source from which it came – are we a nation or are we a religion? The answer is complicated. Until the nineteenth century, we were both. Indeed, the question itself would have been...Read more...

What Does Judaism Say About Advertising?

This time of year – indeed every time of year – we are inundated by advertising. The world of advertising is modern but some of the values involved in putting it into perspective are ancient and still timeless. References in the ancient literature are few but instructive. The prophet Isaiah (55:1-2) warns against spending our money on that...Read more...

Edna St. Vincent Millay, a great poet of the early twentieth century, once observed:

Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour,
Rains from the sky a meteoric shower
Of facts… they lie unquestioned, uncombined.
Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill
Is daily spun, but there exists no loom
To weave it into fabric…

As the poet...Read more...