Rabbi Alvin Reines, professor of philosophy at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1958 until his death in 2004, taught that religion exists because we realize that we are each destined to die. Because our life is finite, with a beginning and an end, we...
On September 21, 2011, at 10:53 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Troy Davis was executed by the state of Georgia. He was tried and convicted for the assault of two men and the murder of a third, a police officer, in Savannah, Georgia in August of 1989. As with other...
God passed by before [Moses] and proclaimed, “The Eternal God, the Eternal God, omnipotent, merciful and kind, slow to anger, with tremendous love and truth. Who remembers deeds of love for thousands [of generations], forgiving sin, rebellion and error. Who does not...
“You compose because you want to somehow summarize in some permanent form your most basic feelings about being alive, to set down… some sort of permanent statement about the way it feels to live now, today.” –Aaron Copland
One of my favorite movies of all time is "The Matrix." It is a story of a dystopian future in which humanity has been taken over by computers. The catch is that the humans are completely unaware of their captivity. People’s brains are all plugged into a vast computer...
The Psalmist wrote: "Shiru Ladonai Shir Khadash."—“Sing unto God a New Song.” This evening, we have experienced new songs and new expressions to words we say week in and week out. We change the music of our prayers not because the words of our prayerbook change. It is...
