By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
This is the season of teshuvah, when we repent and pray that God will forgive us our sins. Just as we hope to be forgiven, so, too, are we asked to forgive those who have done us harm. That is not just a religious value: it’s a mental health one. Focusing on the h…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
I thought about opening this column with an inflammatory statement, but decided that would get me into trouble, even though I planned to explain why I didn’t really believe that statement a sentence or two later. In fact, I was trying to avoid this whole discussio…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
“Religious freedom is the right to hold, practice, and express religious beliefs without government interference or coercion, and is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which has two main clauses: the Establishment Clause (no government esta…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Man plans and God laughs. That Yiddish expression accurately describes major portions of my life. Sometimes it’s a major life event that doesn’t work as expected; other times it’s a small thing. Fortunately, the latest example from my life falls into the latter …
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
“Life is what happens when we are doing the best we can.” That was the one thing I said during a home hospice visit that seemed to emotionally affect the relative to whom I was speaking. He had been talking about all the things he would have done differently t…
