This is part of a series for a course on theodicy. Which of Job’s friends did you find theologically most relatable? Why? I think I find Eliphaz the most relatable, with some reservations. He starts from lived spiritual experience, not doctrine. Elpihaz appeals to visions, mystery, and the moral order of the world rather than
This is a multipart series for a course in theodicy. One of the most striking insights from reading Finding God: Ten Jewish Responses is that Jewish theodicy is not a single answer, but an evolving concept. Tracing a line from Philo of Alexandria to Erich Fromm reveals a clear trajectory: from explaining God to redefining
In Bausman, Pennsylvania, just outside the town of Lancaster, there is a tiny little lamb tombstone with no name on it. The record of this is almost lost to time; there’s a small line about it in David Brenner’s The Jews of Lancaster, Pennsylvania: A Story with Two Beginnings. An infant was the first burial
During COVID, Zoom services became all the rage. Let me just share, both my rabbi and I hate Zoom. Being a Conservative congregation, I think we were both glad that the teshuvah from the Rabbinical Assembly indicates that now we’re out of the pandemic, we no longer have any obligation to touch things which are
I wrote a bit for our May synagogue bulletin that engendered a large amount of correspondence from members of the congregation. I said:May is Mental Health Awareness Month, on top of Jewish American Heritage Month and a raft of others. I am not reluctant to talk about my struggles with mental health. After military experiences,
This is a very difficult thing for me to write, because I don’t know how to feel about it. I don’t want to be a pulpit rabbi. I don’t want to be a congregational rabbi. I would happily pinch hit for others who are. I can come by and read Torah or haftarah, lead a
All signs point to “feh.” A few friends on social media have been reminiscing about their experiences working for McGovern or participating in student protests during the Vietnam War. Most of the folks I know who were in the anti-war movement, and this included in some capacity my parents, grew out of radical activism, if
So, a week or two ago, I wrote an opinion piece for the Bangor Daily News. To make a long story short, there’s a white supremacist, former Marine, and general goober, who when he’s not busy pressing cider for an AirBnB, dreams of opening a training camp for some imaginary race war. As I said
I asked friends on social media what their favorite midrash is. Mine remains Abraham smashing the idols in his father’s shop. He smashed all but one, and handed the stick to the biggest one. He told his father that they fought for a woman’s offering, and that one prevailed. Terah, his father, said, “but they’re
I finished my MBA in 2006. I had been the equivalent of “mid-level management” in the Army since the late 1990s. I’ve done Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt. I’ve done SCRUM training so I can lead Agile teams. In addition to leading and training troops during wartime, I spent the last six years
Writer, President of Bangor's Congregation Beth Israel, retired soldier, programmer, father, musician, Heeb, living in the woods of Maine with three ladies and a dog. Brian is also a rabbinical student with the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary.
Director of Education for Congregation Beth Israel in Bangor, Maine, runs joint religious school with our sister congregation, special educator and former school board member, mother to Avi and Nezzie.
