Rabbi Sherman - Honorable Mensch-ion

A school principal stood in front of the parents at the start of the year and said, “Much have I learned from my masters, even more from my colleagues, umiltalmidai yoter mikulam, and from my students more than from all.”...

A pious man had the custom of putting coins in a few different tzedakah boxes before Shabbat each week. He would then pray. For the orphanage, “May God grant that my children and grandchildren never have to be placed there.”...

Rabbi Guzik and I asked our son this week, “What do you do on Yom Kippur?” He answered, “You build a sukkah.” While he may have been a few days ahead of the rest of the Jewish world, I also...

There was a man who was a habitual sinner. There was no sin in the world he had not committed. One day, his conscience tormented him and he decided to repent for his sins. He went to the local Rabbi...

Jack once asked his friend Sam, “Why don’t you wear a watch?” Jack asnwered that he does not need one, because he can always ask someone else the time. “But what do you do if you get up during the...

Ten years ago, I delivered my senior sermon at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America on parshat Ki Tavo. At the end of a series of blessings and curses, the Torah teaches us that we should “walk in God’s ways.”...

Rabbi Harold Kushner was once asked if the Psalms make a spiritual impact on people. His answer, “Only if they listen.” The cynic takes nothing seriously, finds nothing meaningful or sacred. The tribe of Amalek had a single motivation when...

Today, I learn how to sit again. For the last eleven months, I have recited the mourner’s kaddish to honor the memory of my brother, Eyal, of blessed memory. I stood at attention each morning, uttering these sacred words in...

The sound of the shofar and the ordering of honey are signs that the High Holy Days are approaching. Yet, a little known but significant indication of this season is the daily recitation of Psalm 27, beginning this Shabbat of...

This week, Rabbi Nicole Guzik and I are serving as Rabbis-in-Residence at Camp Ramah in Ojai, CA. Please enjoy the words that we sent to the families of Ramah campers. While I cannot count the number of times I have...