Dear Friends: Tomorrow marks the fourth yahrzeit of my father Elliott Arian z”l. I’ve written before about the last coherent conversation I had with him. For the last few weeks of his life he wasn’t able to talk so this conversation was some time in September, 2021. He was very upset because he had been watching coverage of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the people who had worked with the Americans desperately trying to get onto American planes leaving Kabul, even try

Dear Friends: Some notes on a few different subjects: This Shabbat we will say farewell to Stu and Janet Rutchik.  Stu has served in many different roles including two terms as synagogue president and has been a frequent Haftarah chanter. Janet has also served in many different positions on the board and in Sisterhood. The Rutchiks have been members of Kehilat Shalom for about 35 years and they will be sorely missed but we understand their desire to live closer to their grand

Dear Friends: On Tuesday, as you certainly know, Zohran Mamdani was elected as Mayor of New York City, with 50.4 percent of the vote. Prior to the election a lot of pressure had been placed on Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to drop out in favor of ex-governor and independent candidate Andrew Cuomo due to fears that they would split the vote and let Mamdani win with a plurality, but as it turned out he won a bare majority. I spent the first eight years of my life in New York

: Dear Friends: In the last couple of weeks, the American Jewish community has lost two prominent leaders. They were very different from each other and yet they had at least one major thing in common. On Shemini Atzeret evening, Rabbi Moshe Hauer died suddenly at his home in Baltimore at age 60. Rabbi Hauer was the Executive Vice-President of the Orthodox Union (OU), the main umbrella organization of Modern Orthodox Judaism. He had been a pulpit rabbi in Baltimore for 26 year

Dear Friends: I have to begin my note to you this morning with some sad news. As you know, our guest High Holiday cantor from Israel, Michael Garmise, had to return home right after Rosh Hashanah because his wife Reva had taken seriously ill and was hospitalized. Sadly, she passed away on Wednesday and her funeral took place in Netanya yesterday morning. Although Mike was only with us for the two days of Rosh Hashanah, I heard from many of you how much you enjoyed meeting him

Dear Friends: As of this writing, a ceasefire has taken effect in Gaza and preparations are being made by Israel for the return of the...

Dear Friends: The Israelis have a wonderful concept known as אחרי החגים, “after the holidays.” By which they mean “after Shemini...

Dear Friends: Our country is appropriately troubled by the murder on Wednesday of Charlie Kirk, a right-wing political activist, while...

Last night we had a Town Meeting to discuss various options as we move forward once the sale of our building on Apple Ridge Rd. closes. I...

Dear Friends: I finally found a concise definition of the particular approach to Judaism which makes the most sense to me:   “a...

Dear Friends:   You may know that I was appointed a member of the Social Justice Commission of Conservative/Masorti Judaism this past...

Dear Friends: Before I share with you some other thoughts, I wanted to ask you to put something on your calendar. On Sunday morning...

Dear Friends: This week’s Parasha, VaEtchanan, contains both the Shema and a reprise of the Ten Commandments. At some point you have...

Dear Friends: Tisha B’Av is Saturday night and Sunday. This is the only full 25 hour fast day in the Jewish calendar other than Yom...

Dear Friends: There is a famous story in the Talmud, B’rachot 5b, where Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba fell ill. Rabbi Yohanan went to visit him...

Dear Friends: The war between Israel and Iran continues with Iran continuing to fire missiles at Israel. The pace of missiles seems...

Dear Friends: As you most likely know, last night Israel launched a massive attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and the Iranian military...

Dear Friends: Today is the 85th anniversary of a tragic day in Jewish history and a shameful day in American history. On June 6, 1939,...

Dear Friends: Shavuot, which begins this Sunday night and extends through Monday and Tuesday,  is in many ways an “orphaned holiday.”...

Dear Friends: Yesterday morning I sent out a special message after the horrific murders Wednesday night of two young Israeli Embassy...