Judaism for the Thinking Person

Jews pray the Aleinu prayer three times a day to end every service, which is weird because it was composed just for Rosh Hashanah. How did this tradition develop? And should we, like some Jewish denominations, eliminate or change it out of embarrassment for its wishing all nations to bow down to the true God? Listen before you make up your mind.

Kol Nidrei Sermon 2026

Yom Kippur Sermon 2026

"The Machzor as a Guide to Responding to Antisemitism" - The Jewish Holidays focus on Unetaneh Tokef --the reality of pain and adversity-- and Scapegoating/Confession. I use these as a guide to understanding and responding to anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, and I don't hold back from analyzing their relationship.

What are the most common commandments in the Torah? Shabbat? Kashrut? No, it's repetition after repetition about caring for the stranger, the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the daily laborer. Are these terms that identify specific roles in Biblical society that are not easily mappable onto modern society? Or is that exactly wrong -- even to the point of our mistranslating them (like "orphan") to put ourselves at a distance?