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What Has God Done for You Lately? #678

05/21/2021 06:06:00 PM

May21

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

Parashat Naso What Has God Done for You Lately?

In a previous life, I worked as a communications consultant, which required me to travel weekly to and from a small community, north of the city where we lived.

I quickly achieved ranking as a frequent flyer, and one of the fringe benefits of that status was to receive a light meal during the one-hour flight to and from home.

This usually consisted of a dry smoked turkey...Read more...

Abraham — The Holocaust — and Numbers #677

05/14/2021 05:08:00 PM

May14

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

Parashat Bamidbar

"Take a census of the whole Israelite community" (Numbers 1:2)

Abraham — The Holocaust — and Numbers

There was a mystery within my former congregation as to why an elder — let’s call him Abraham — always asked to be called to the Torah on the Shabbat morning coinciding with the reading of B’reshit — Genesis — the first section of the Torah.

For many years,...Read more...

The Torah and the Sacred Earth #676

05/07/2021 06:30:00 PM

May7

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

Parashat B'har/B'chukotai

“In the seventh year, the land shall have a Sabbath of complete rest…It shall be year of complete rest for the land.” (Leviticus 25:5-6)

The Torah and the Sacred Earth

It was sweltering summer afternoon that day in 2017, as our Israeli tour bus parked along the edges of a farmer’s field.

As was the case in each of our congregational tours to Israel, we parked at the edge of a...Read more...

Prince Philip and "The Incident" #675

04/30/2021 03:00:00 PM

Apr30

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

Parashat Emor

“You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.” Exodus 19:6

Prince Philip and "The Incident"

The photo is buried somewhere in a box. I’m sure one of these years it will turn up.

It was taken on May 24, 2005, during a British royal tour of Canada, and in some ways it created a mini incident.

That morning, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip found themselves in the Alberta...Read more...

Zoom or in-Person: What Do You Choose? #674

04/23/2021 06:41:00 PM

Apr23

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

Parashat Achrei Mot/Kedoshim Zoom or In-Person: What Do you Choose?

“What will Judaism look like after Covid?”

That question — among others — keeps coming up in our congregation during this unprecedented time of “virtual religion.”

Is Zoom religion here to stay? What role will synagogues play? What have we learned during the past year as we have seen attendance at Zoom services surge...Read more...

Gossip and Life After Death #673

04/16/2021 05:50:00 PM

Apr16

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

Parashat Tazria-Metzora Gossip and Life After Death

Perhaps the most frequently asked question in Judaism is: “What happens to us after we die?”

If only we knew. And, like most questions within Judaism, our rabbis have posited as many answers as there are “stars in the sky.”

But one answer touches me perhaps more than any other. And it comes from one of our greatest Kabbalistic masters, Rabbi Isaac...Read more...

Ethics of Eating and Shopping #672

04/09/2021 04:00:00 PM

Apr9

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

Parashat Shemini "These are the instructions concerning animals, birds, all living creatures that move in water, and all creatures that swarm on earth." (Leviticus 11:46) Ethics of Eating and Shopping

About 45 years ago, I left my home and my family in suburban Montreal to chase my dream of becoming a newspaper reporter — in the northern Canadian community of Fort McMurray.

To that point, I had lived only in a kosher...Read more...

Maxwell House Haggadah: "Not a Fan" #670

03/26/2021 04:40:00 PM

Mar26

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

"Shabbat HaGadol — the Great Shabbat"  Maxwell House Haggadah: "Not a Fan"

I’ve been thinking, these past few weeks, about past Passovers, with both the good and “complex” memories they invoke.

Exhibit A is the Maxwell House Haggadah, which since 1932, has guided families through one of the most storied holidays in Jewish tradition. More than 50 million copies are in print.

But in so many ways,...Read more...

Calling Each Other by Name #669

03/19/2021 05:20:00 PM

Mar19

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

Parashat Vayikra "And God called out to Moses – and spoke to him." (Leviticus 1:1) Calling Each Other by Name

It was Rosh Hashanah, about 15 years ago, when — as is the custom when we return the Torah to the ark — I began walking up and down our sanctuary aisles wishing everyone a Shannah Tovah.

It was usual for a rabbi, prior to Covid — especially new rabbis — to attempt to shake as many hands as...Read more...

The "True" Jewish New Year" #668

03/12/2021 05:55:00 PM

Mar12

Rabbi Irwin Huberman

Parashat Vayakhel/Pekude "This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months." (Exodus 12:2) The "True" Jewish new Year

This Shabbat marks a historic moment in the journey of the Jewish people. It celebrates the first time God ever commanded the Jewish people to perform a mitzvah.

God calls it, “The first of the months of the year for you.” But it is not Rosh Hashanah.

Let’s set the stage:...Read more...

Mon, December 1 2025 11 Kislev 5786