Self-doubt and growth in the story of Passover — In literature and in real life, we expect that the people we encounter will change over time. However, do we ever think of ourselves as changing and developing characters? Do we have the tools to be reflective and self-aware enough to know when we have changed? Often it takes a…

Chanukah 2022 — Few events are as catastrophic as your younger brother knocking down the tower you’ve built. After such an event the cries of despair can be heard across the house. ‘Things’, older sisters claim, ‘will just never be the same.’ Building something new is exciting. Everyone is enthused by the notion…

On the south end of the second floor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art hangs Study for “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte”. Georges Seurat painted this piece in preparation for his masterpiece by the same name. …

What Jewish Prayer can teach us about Thanksgiving — Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the idea of a community having a collective feeling. It is remarkable, to me, that people can feel something as a group. As a Jewish community we are often told how to feel collectively. …

Yamim Noraim 2022 — In 1999 Shimon Peres wrote a book in which he bends time to bring Theodore Herzl, the great 19th century Zionist visionary, on a tour of modern Israel. Peres, who was Israel’s longest serving statesman, felt compelled to reach back into history in order to show off the country’s accomplishments…

Taking career advice from Shimon Peres — I recently had the rare opportunity to play golf with a caddie. There are many upsides to playing with a caddie, like course knowledge and an uncanny ability to find the ball. One thing, however, struck me as my friends and I played a mediocre round of golf; the caddie…

Praying on the beach, a perfect answer to all our ‘what ifs’ — Prayer, I suppose, isn’t for fair weather fans. Or at least it’s not supposed to be. On a recent Friday night I attended an incredible Kabbalat Shabbat on the beach in Atlantic Beach, NY. Just hours before sundown, the anticipated start time for the services, it started to rain. My…

Reflections on Shavuot (2022) It is remarkable that Jews around the world feel a sense of connection to each other. What enables that feeling of connection? What do we share? This is a question that Jewish scholars have anticipated for over a thousand years. In his famous commentary on the…

Reflections on rereading the Haggadah each year — Why do we watch the same movies over and over again? How many times have you seen the same episode of Seinfeld or Friends? When will I pick a new commute playlist on Spotify? In 2011, Professors Russel and Levy, two researchers from the field of behavioral science wrote a…