One of my favorite memories of freshman year in college took place in a literature seminar: the students in the class got our English professor to admit that “Moby Dick” was a poorly written book. When I was in rabbinical school, I learned that the Herman Melville novel was the favorite …
Not every candidate I vote for wins. That’s the nature of democracy: sometimes your choice wins and sometimes he/she loses. When that happened, you used to have two options: 1) find a better way to present your candidate so more people will vote for her/him, or 2) find a better candidate t…
I have mixed feeling about New York state’s legalization of marijuana. Before I write about those feelings I should make a few things clear:
1) I have never used marijuana in any form.
2) I have many friends who have used it with no harmful effects.
3) I have long supported the medical …
I suddenly realized that I hadn’t written anything about President Joe Biden since he’s taken office. That’s not because I agree with everything he’s done. I’m reserving judgment on some of his policies, particularly as they reference Israel and the Middle East. I do like the fact …
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
The political debates about immigration continue and it’s unlikely the issue will ever be completely resolved – if only because each generation of Americans faces a different set of circumstances. What we rarely talk about during these debates is what these immi…
