Most teachers follow the rule that if one student asks a question, more than one student is thinking the same question. So when I repeatedly get asked one question, I know that it is time to rephrase the answer I have been giving and try to explain it more fully. The question I get concerns...
“I vote with my heart,” says a supporter of Cynthia Nixon, the Sex in the City actress who is running against Andrew Cuomo for the governorship of New York State, “and Ms. Nixon won my heart.” I assume that the above quote, appearing at it does in the April 16, 2018 edition of New York...
Dear Rabbi & Susan, You speak and write a lot about Biblical marriage and while sometimes it sounds a bit too good to be true, my wife and I largely follow your teachings. We’ve had many issues crop up and we have often found answers in your work. But we have looked throughout your work...
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma, features a song that allows for a rollicking dance sequence even if it doesn’t do much for the plot. The Farmer and the Cowman Should Be Friends is a social commentary on the tension between ranchers and farmers in the early 1900s in Oklahoma Territory. The closing lines (after...
I am a 56 year-old woman who has never been married. I have recently decided that I would like to find a man and get married even in this later time of life. This surprises me because it was never really one of my goals to get married, but I have realized that I do...
This evening, Tuesday April 17, Susan and I are doing a live TV show in Akron, OH before a studio audience. Among other teaching, we will accept questions from people in the audience to which we shall respond by employing principles of ancient Jewish wisdom. This is what we do with our Ask the Rabbi...
As human beings, we struggle to know ourselves; no matter how close we are to someone it is impossible to completely know another person. This is particularly true for our parents. When my friend, Naomi*, was sitting shiva (the Jewish week of mourning) for her mother, she discovered some flabbergasting news. Naomi’s father was her...
This terrific piece by Peter Himmelman appeared in Forbes. Peter is a musician and businessman and also the son-in-law of Bob Dylan the musical icon of the 60s: “With the pace of technology and its demand for our attention increasing month-to-month, comes the challenge of occasionally leaving it behind. I’ve found some answers in my …
Finding The Off Switch: Four Reasons I Observe Shabbat Read More »
Dear Rabbi and Susan, We have an opportunity to increase our family income by double. We currently make about 40K a year between my husband and I. I was accepted into a one year program that would give me the skills and connections to make between 50-80k a year myself excluding my husbands income. We...
