Most people think the sins for which we seek forgiveness are the "ritual" or "religious" ones: not observing Shabbat or keeping kosher, and so forth. Most people also think that if they pray hard enough, their sins are forgiven by the time Yom Kippur ends. Actually, that forgiveness doesn't happen until the start of the next Yom Kippur--except for the sins between us and God, which are forgiven each year just at the moment Yom Kippur begins. There is a lot of misunderstanding about Yom Kippur...

This episode is jam-packed with issues we need to consider during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, including: Women’s rights; workers’ rights; gun violence and gun control; the plight of the poor and disadvantaged; the influx of migrants coming across our Southern border; how business should be conducted; what our responsibilities are to the environment and ecology; and so much more.  Support the show

This is the second episode in a 3-part series designed to help us with the awesome tasks of reflection (already underway) and repentance (it begins three weeks from tonight with the start of the High Holy Days). The topic this week deals with our responsibilities towards the poor and the disadvantaged in our society. Support the show

There’s one week left before the season of reflection and repentance begins with the beginning of the month of Elul. Unless we take the five weeks from today leading up to Rosh Hashanah 5784 to examine who we are and who we should be, how we’ve lived our lives in the past year, and what we need to atone for and correct, the High Holy Days are, to put it bluntly, an exercise in futility and very much a waste of time. Support the show

This week, Israel's parliament, and the behest of a prime minister on trial for serous offenses, spit in the face of Torah law and endangered the state in ways most serious. Support the show

Yes, I did praise the Supreme Court my last podcast, but only because I wanted us to have reason to celebrate on July 4th and three High Court rulings gave us reason to cheer. There is, however, more to fear than to cheer coming out of this court, which is eroding our rights in so many areas. Support the show

It was touch-and-go for a while, but thanks to six justices of the U.S. Supreme Court there’s great reason this coming Tuesday to celebrate the founding of the American Republic 247 years ago on July 4th, 1776. At the same time, there’s also reason to be concerned about the ethics of some of the justices on the High Court. I discuss both in this week's podcast. Support the show

The title says it all. You may be surprised, though, at some of those laws. Support the show

The world has a way of ignoring history when it comes to Israel and the Palestinian issue—and the world’s media plays along.. This is a 30-minute episode but it's filled with information all of us should be aware of given the level of reporting on the conflict and the efforts by the Palestinians, the BDS movement, and even some members of Congress to undermine the legitimacy of Israel. Support the show

Here are some gruesome statistics: On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner here in the United States. The National Domestic Violence Hotline, in fact, receives an average of 1,000 calls per day from people being abused, most of whom are women. Three women are killed here every day by a current or former intimate partner. That's nearly 1,100 women killed by a partner each year. In Canada, a woman is killed every six days by her intimate partner....

Unless both sides can compromise on some of their most strongly held positions, the U.S. will, for the first time ever, default on its obligations this summer, to a devastating effect here and around the world. The need to compromise is something Judaism has much to say about, and Congress and the Administration should pay serious heed. Support the show

"They" say it never happened. It's all made up. Just a work of pure fiction. Nothing in Egyptian history supports it. So why can't we eat a bagel during Passover? Why do we have to go to all the trouble and expense to vicariously relive events that were invented by anonymous biblical authors? Well, in this 40-plus episode, I demonstrate just how wrong they (the scholars who insist on this) are so very wrong. Support the show

A Passover Primer unlike any you have ever seen before but one you will wish you knew about all along. Vodka before dinner and beer during? Whole wheat bread for luncheon sandwiches? Oatmeal for breakfast? In this episode, we interview an Orthodox rabbi who says it is all Kosher for Passover. No need for a Kosher for Passover stamp, either. Just check the ingredient label of any food you cannot do without on Passover. At the bottom, the label must warn about allergens. If it does not say...

I covered some of this in last week’s column in the Jewish Standard, but I have limited space for my columns and there’s so much more to talk about, so even if you read the column, listening to this episode.  The word “defund” has only one meaning, regardless of what dictionary we use. To defund something is to take away the money from that something. The slogan “Defund the police” is just another way of saying “let’s get rid of the police altogether.” That slogan, though, is what stands in...

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Does this sound familiar? “The biggest mistake in Judaism that we have today is that it's either black or white. You're either doing everything exactly perfect or you're doing nothing. And that is absolutely not the way the system works and that's not the way it ever was; if you go back in history, it was not this way, if you go back a thousand years and more. In Judaism, everyone has their observance level and everyone's goal in life should be to do better. And it's more important not to...

The most extremist right-wing government in Israel's history was sworn in on Thursday amid dire warnings from U.S. Jewish leaders about the potential dangers its proposed agenda will have on the relationship between American Jews and the Jewish state. Our man in Israel, longtime journalist Charles Byblezer, offers his insights in this nearly 30-minute episode. Support the show

The title says it all. There is a valid reason to celebrate Chanukah (without giving it a Christmas coloring), and that is the concept it brought into the world: Freedom of Religion. We're still struggling with that today. We should celebrate the Festival of Lights for what it is. Here's why. Support the show

I'm joined this week by our man in Israel, Charles Byblezer, for a very insightful discussion about the goings-on in Israel. A week before the U.S. midterms, Israel held its fifth election is less than four years--and the results are causing hand-wringing and hair-pulling among Jewish leaders here in the U.S. and elsewhere in the Diaspora. The government Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu is most likely to form will lean to the far right politically and, just as important,...

I thought I was done with the midterms and the threat they pose to us, but something happened on Saturday in Jacksonville that made me realize there was more I needed to say. Donald Trump is a racist generally and an anti-Semite specifically, and from almost immediately after announcing in mid-2015 that he would seek the GOP nomination, he gave the haters out there the green light to come out of their dark holes once again. And now, Republicans all across the country have taken Trump's...

 This is NOT a political podcast in the sense of promoting a political agenda. It's about a very serious threat to our democracy in general and to us Jews in particular. To those who say "It can't happen here," the fact is that it has already begun to happen here and the midterms may be our best chance of stopping it before it is too late.  Support the show

There is nothing antiquated or embarrassing about Sukkot or its rituals. In fact, in a world beset by repeating environmental disasters caused by global warming, it may well be the most significant Jewish observance with regard to the natural world we live in. Support the show

This week's episode completes the series on many of the matters we must be concerned  with--and that we must atone for if we failed to act on these concerns in 5782--in approaching the High Holy Days and Yom Kippur especially. Women's rights...workers' rights...issues involving the migrant wave coming across the Southern U.S. border...how business affairs must be conducted...and so much more are covered here. I refer to the episode as "The Roadmap to Repentance on steroids" because it covers...

The Repentance Clock is ticking. The High Holy Days are now just over four weeks away! This is the second of three episodes designed to help us prepare for making the "accounting of our souls" that the 10 days from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur are all about. This episode focuses on the heavy emphasis the Torah places on our responsibilities towards the poor and the disadvantaged, especially our need to see to it that they have life's basic necessities in adequate supply—and especially...

The High Holy Days are just over six weeks away! The next three episodes will help us prepare for making the "accounting of our souls" that is the task of the 10 days from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur. This is part 1. Part 2 is in two weeks. Support the show