Mishpatim | Rabbi Michael Siegel | January 29, 2022
Back in the old country, back in the day of our great-great-grandparents, they knew the word “America”, but more often than not, the term that they used for this country was the goldinah medinah. The golden land, a place so rich that the streets are paved with gold. But when they arrived in this country, Continue Reading »
Toldot | Rabbi Michael Siegel | November 6, 2021
Changing the Meaning of a Phrase: Acknowledging the Hands of Esau in Our Time Rabbi Michael S. Siegel: November 6, 2021 It is remarkable how a well-known saying can lose or change its meaning over time. Consider these nursery rhymes that many of us recited to our children: Baa Baa, Black Sheep, have you any wool? Continue Reading »
Shabbat Shuvah | Rabbi Michael Siegel | September 11, 2021
The Sin for Which There is No Teshuvah: Thoughts on 9/11: 20 Years Later Rabbi Michael S. Siegel Shabbat Shuvah 2021 Shabbat Shuvah is a day that we celebrate the power of Teshuvah. Next to monotheism, this notion that human beings can win forgiveness from God for their wrongdoings may be Judaism’s greatest contribution to the Continue Reading »
Shabbat Shuvah | Rabbi Michael Siegel | September 10, 2021
Higher and Higher: Into the Fire” A Tribute to the Firefighters of the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 and Shabbat Shuvah Rabbi Michael S. Siegel Friday, September 10, 2021 On 911 our world change. The unimaginable became imaginable. The images of planes directed at buildings, and seeing those two iconic structures collapse, people walking in shock covered in dust will Continue Reading »
Rosh Hashanah Day One | Rabbi Michael Siegel | September 7, 2021
Catching Our Tears: Finding Our Humanity and our Judaism Rabbi Michael S. Siegel Rosh Hashanah 2021 In my hand I hold a small clay bottle. It can easily be mistaken for a random piece of pottery discovered on a dig in Israel. But it had a very specific purpose. This is a facsimile of an Continue Reading »
Ki Tavo | Rabbi Michael Siegel | August 31, 2021
How do you say Computer in Russian, Computer? In Spanish? Computadora In Japanese: Com puu tor Globalization has affected every aspect of our lives including or language. As most technological advances have been made In America it makes sense that the English terms would make their way around the world in their original form. The Continue Reading »
Naso | Rabbi Michael Siegel | May 22, 2021
Imagine this scene. A slave people, who lived for hundreds of years under the whip and tyranny of Egypt. Stripped of a sense of self, these slaves inhabited a world where they were defined by the Egyptian overlords as something subhuman, abhorrent, no different than a pack animal. Now, miraculously freed from slavery, these same Continue Reading »
Kedoshim | Rabbi Michael Siegel | April 24, 2021
Love Your Neighbor A man walks into the car store wanting to buy a car. He pays the man at the counter and the salesperson says, “All right, just come back in 10 years to pick one up.” The man replies, “Morning or afternoon?” The dealer says, “Well, 10 years from now, what difference does it Continue Reading »
Tazria-Metzora | Rabbi Michael Siegel | April 17, 2021
Behind my desk in my office, there are two beautiful stained-glass windows. One is a striking image of the Prophet Jeremiah. So, I have the distinction of spending a great deal of time with the image of one of our great Prophets before me. Though I have not been spending a significant amount of time Continue Reading »
Yitro | Rabbi Michael Siegel | February 6, 2021
The Danger of a Post-Truth America I want to begin with a Midrash, a Rabbinic teaching, about our Torah reading this morning which, while composed well over a thousand years ago, could have easily been written today: “When Moses was engaged in writing the Torah, he had to write the work of each day of Continue Reading »
