Below is a short scene from my most recent film, Rabbi on the Block, that shows Rabbi Tamar Manasseh observing Yom Kippur on a corner on the southside of Chicago. Rabbi Tamar is a Chicago-based anti gun violence activist and community leader. In 2021, she was ordained as a rabbi by the International Israelite Board of Rabbis. She is… Read more »

Guten tag! I spent a week in Germany this summer with 3 generations of my family — my parents, my brother and his wife, my oldest daughter and 3 nieces. Through our process of “שובה / shuva / returning” to our ancestral homeland, we learned about the 3 generations of our family that preceded us,… Read more »

This year, 2024, during the Jewish days of awe I will turn 69 years old. B”H I am in good health. I have lived, during my 69 years, in many places. I was born in Manhattan (at Mount Sinai hospital which is ironic because my Hebrew name is Moshe!). We moved to Forest Hills and… Read more »

Elul is the month that we open ourselves to the possibility of holiness and connection in preparation for Rosh HaShanah. Through our teshuvah, repentance, or turning, we attempt to repair what needs fixing. This year I face the holiday with a broken heart, and it is hard to figure out how to begin. I do… Read more »

The words of Shoftim, tzedek, tzedek tirdof – justice, justice shall you pursue – have guided my life’s work. They’ve become foundational since I was appointed to the bench as I have spent the past year learning to become a judge and to sit in judgment. When I think about what I’ve learned, and particularly… Read more »