A few years ago I was at a meeting of rabbis listening to a talk by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of more than a dozen formative works on Jewish ethics, literacy and history. He began by asking us this question: “What are the three commandments ‘to love’ in the Torah?”
Read MoreA few years ago I was at a meeting of rabbis listening to a talk by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of more than a dozen formative works on Jewish ethics, literacy and history. He began by asking us this question: “What are the three commandments ‘to love’ in the Torah?”
Read MoreA few years ago I was at a meeting of rabbis listening to a talk by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of more than a dozen formative works on Jewish ethics, literacy and history. He began by asking us this question: “What are the three commandments ‘to love’ in the Torah?”
Read MoreEight years ago, while traveling in El Salvador with AJWS as part of a delegation of rabbinical students, I found myself in front of the main cathedral in San Salvador, the capital city. Surrounded by crowds of people in the busy plaza, looking at the massive church with its mix of Spanish and Native American décor, we heard about the Salvadoran people’s struggle to live in peace and to create a just society. I can still remember the moment when our guide, an activist and former priest named Chencho Alas, exhorted us to “be prophets” like his friend, the murdered Archbishop Oscar Romero. We looked at each other in bewilderment and may have even suppressed a giggle or two. We weren’t even rabbis yet; how could we possibly be expected to live up to the expectation of being prophets? The notion seemed wildly absurd.
Read More