All to often I hear the phrase "I can't wait for 2020 to be over". Or likewise when something crazy happens the response will be "well it's 2020 and that is how things go".
There is no doubt that 2020 has been a challenging time period with a host of different huge challenges at any given time. With Thanksgiving being so different this year, the Covid numbers constantly creeping upwards and leaving us with a terrible human and economic toll, combined with an emotionally tense and negative election cycle and a whole range of other happenings, there has certainly been no shortage of negativity around us at any given time.
Yet where do we go from here, do we simply hold out and await the good of the future when … Read More »

"We can complain that rose bushes have thorns or we can rejoice that thorn bushes have roses."
This past Saturday evening right after the Sabbath, I read the sad news that Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of the UK passed away. As a long time admirer of the former Chief Rabbi of England and as someone who listens to many of his podcasts, reads his weekly emails and has heard him speak in person, I was very upset at his untimely passing.
Growing up in England we had a little red guest book in which our many sleepover guests, could sign their names and leave a note. I remember browsing through it from time to time and remembering the various guests who came through our home and slept over and joined us for a Shabbat.
An incredible leader, scholar and teacher, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of Blessed Memory passed away this morning.