Prayers are not only those located in a “prayer book.” They are found whenever human beings reach out and use words to express their thoughts, their fears, their dreams. The Hebrew term “to pray”, lehitpallel, actually means to self-introspect/ self-assess. In...
Ten Plagues of Modern Life
While the Ten Plagues of the Haggadah might be fun in the same way as some people get a voyeuristic kick out of Game of Thrones or a slasher movie, most of us do not seriously believe that our tap water will turn into blood, or frogs will invade our bedrooms. Still...
The Leap to Explain: Coronavirus as a Metaphor
Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other...
Purim Blues: Why Using Anti-Semitism to Inspire Jewish Identity is a Bad Idea
By Dr. Elliott Malamet As the old–and by now endlessly recycled–joke would have it, the essence of Jewish history in one sentence is “They tried to kill us, we survived, […]
The Best Policy
I asked high school students if they would cheat on an exam or plagiarize an essay? What if the class is graded according to a bell curve, such that your […]
The Torah vs. Me
Today, the relevance of religious authority has been severely challenged by the driving impulse of the modern world, which is the search for personal authenticity. The very notion that anyone […]
From Doubt To Distraction
We have created a false binary in the contemporary Jewish conversation between “believers” and “non-believers.” The reality is that any “religious” life is imbued with doubt. It is actually a blessing to never be fully certain of our convictions, because such doubt...
The Jewish Rock and the Christian Hard Place
Dr. Elliott Malamet The central question of any Western religion is how is it possible to connect with a God? What would that kind of connection look like? Is a […]
Growing Up: Chanukah and the Loss of Innocence
Many Jewish holidays are inspiring and fun when you are a child, or when you are raising young children. But at a certain age, religious innocence gives way to sober […]
Of Dogs and Dogma
Dr. Elliott Malamet “Dogs never bite me. Just humans.” – Marilyn Monroe. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” – George Orwell, Animal Farm, 1945. […]