On Monday April 8, the path of a total solar eclipse will cross North America from Mexico, through Texas, up and across the central and eastern United States through Maine, and into Canada through Newfoundland and Labrador. The path of totality will touch a tiny corner of Michigan just north of Toledo. The next opportunity to see a solar eclipse in North America will be in 2044. If you can wait until 2099, the totality of the eclipse will pass right over Grand Rapids. In ancient times, an eclipse was a sign of Divine displeasure (Talmud, Sukkah 29b). For this reason, historically no blessing w ..read more

In memory of Dale Krishef, Devorah bat Yoel u’Feigel. Most of us will sit shiva for two major losses during out lifetime, that of our parents; and some will also have occasion to mourn the significant losses of spouses, siblings, or children. Shiva is an intense period of mourning, during which the mourner does not leave his or her home for seven days, except on Shabbat, when the public rituals of mourning are set aside. The mourner wears the torn shirt (or ribbon) during shiva as a sign of loss and we bring a minyan into their home. For a person who is deeply engaged in Jewish community, who ..read more

There is something majestic about the architecture of a large sanctuary that draws one’s attention upwards towards God’s presence. A room full of people absorbs and mutes some of the sound, but the acoustics of a well designed sanctuary amplify the power of the leader’s voice. On Rosh Hashanah, in between sets of shofar sounds, I like to let the sound echo and die down before continuing on with the next set. It is a reminder that when we do a mitzvah, the effect of that action resonates through the world like the rings of waves coming off a stone thrown into a pond. Because of pandemic precaut ..read more

An interview with Fred Stella, host of WGVU’s “Common Threads,” about my book, Reflections on the Psalms. The book is available on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFCYR1NP ..read more

We, who love Judaism, probably do so because we love the holidays, the life cycle events, maybe the structure and content of prayer. We may also love the system of ethics as it applies to personal spiritual growth or medicine or even business. And of course we love Torah and we ought to love Israel as well, the land that it clearly given to us as a place to exercise sovereignty and self-determination. And that it why so many of us have been in emotional and spiritual agony since October 7, the day on which the terrorists of Hamas butchered our young and our old and kidnapped about 240 of our b ..read more

An interview with Samuel Zinner about my book. The book is available on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFCYR1NP. If you are in Grand Rapids, I have a few copies that I can sell for about 20% off. It makes a great Hanukkah (or Christmas) present! Samuel Zinner, Ph.D. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2002. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Zinner concentrated in modern and ancient languages and literatures, history, and Museum Studies. He contributed to German Scholars and Ethnic Cleansing 1920- 1945 (Berghahn Books 2004), which was awarded the American Library Association’s prestigious ..read more

Ahavas Israel has been involved in an interfaith Thanksgiving service for at least 40-50 years, originally with a group of churches in our neighborhood, and for the past 20-some years, a city-wide coalition convened by the Kaufman Interfaith Institute of GVSU. The service takes place on the Monday night before Thanksgiving. It is designed to be a glimpse through the window at an authentic expression of gratitude from a variety of traditions, including Sikh, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, Native American, Catholic, several Protestant Christian denominations, Unitarian, non-theist, and Jewish. During ..read more

A Hasidic teaching I studied recently suggested that God is represented by words. God is found in the words of the revelation at Sinai, the words of Torah. But it also suggested that when we live our faith fully, that we not only hear God’s words, we also actually hear God’s voice, a more powerful connection. The difference between words and a voice is this: Words might be seen as an artifact of an ancient world, the dusty remnants of a previous generation. A voice, on the other hand, is an active presence, something alive and vibrant. Faith, commitment, spiritual energy, belief, is what trans ..read more

My childhood rabbi died in July. Rabbi Kassel Abelson was one of the giants of the Conservative movement. He was chair of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, helped found USY, was present at the creation of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin (the original Ramah), and shaped the introduction of egalitarianism and GLBTQ+inclusiveness into the movement. The egalitarianism that he and Beth El Minneapolis instilled in me as a core value in the mid 70’s is what insulated me from swallowing the Orthodoxy that the Ba’al Teshuvah yeshivot tried to feed One Year Program students at Hebrew University. Ramah ..read more

With gratitude to the Holy One of Blessing, I am excited to announcing the publication of Rabbi Krishef’s Reflections on the Psalms! Discover how the Psalms can inspire you to engage significant contemporary issues. This is not a commentary on the meaning and message of the Psalms; rather, this book considers the Psalms as a collection of phrases and images that invite us into brief meditations using Jewish wisdom for spiritual development. Reflections on the Psalms, published by Luminescence LLC, is available on Amazon. You can find endorsements of the book from Rabbi David Wolpe, Rabbi Brad ..read more