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Truths You Can Use

Earlier this year a friend of mine delivered a sermon at Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. Facebook comments soon informed him that the church had once been headed by Donald Trump’s favorite minister.   That minister was Norman Vincent Peale. Reverend Peale presided at his marriage to Ivana. Trump has spoken about Peale’s extraordinary…

Something new and wonderful happened last night. The Chicago Cubs became World Series champions for the first time since 1908. Amidst the celebration, we can learn so much to help us in life. Baseball is not just a sport. It teaches us about life. Here are ten truths we can learn from the Chicago Cubs…

The greatest teachers of the Bible did not tell stories. They did not simply proclaim laws. They lived what they taught. They also invited others into it. Think of people from whom you learned. Did they just say things? Or did they live them? The most important things are not always taught. They are caught. One…

Many heroes emerged on 9/11. The firefighters and police officers who entered the burning building and debris stand out. Their memories continue to bless and inspire us today. Among the overlooked heroes, however, was a group hunkered down in several white tents. The tents stood by the New York City medical examiners office. Inside them…

In seminary, one moral dilemma seriously divided the class. The question was whether to give money to the homeless on the street in downtown Cincinnati, where the seminary was located. This question concerned me directly, as I was also interning in Chicago and encountered several homeless people on my walk to the synagogue. Most of…

On the most sacred Jewish holiday of the year–Yom Kippur–we literally imagine our own funeral. Men traditional wear a white sash that will also serve as their burial shroud. The purpose is to picture our own death in a way that helps us live more fully. What if, however, we could not only imagine our…

Tonight begins the Jewish “Festival of Tabernacles.” Known in Hebrew as Sukkot, we spend time in  temporary outdoor dwellings. They remind us of the fragility of life our ancestors experienced during their journey across the Sinai Desert. Vanity, Vanity, All is Vanity!  The biblical book we read on Sukkot is Ecclesiastes. Tonight we will chant it in my…

Religious leaders are public figures. We live on display. People look at what we drive, what we eat, what we wear. Unfortunately, sometimes we hide parts of ourselves in order to conform to people’s expectations. We might convey feelings of invulnerability or perfection in public as we struggle in private. Trying to be different people…

Dr. Ezekiel Emauel, the well-known bioethicist and brother of the mayor of my town, argued recently in an essay in the Atlantic Monthly that 75 is the perfect age to die. After that, he said, most people have little to contribute to society and are a burden rather than a benefit. I can think of…

Yom Kippur is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. It is filled with solemn prayer, and most Jews fast. How, then, can it be the happiest day of the year? Allow me to explain… Picture the scene: It is 1944, in Glasgow, Scotland, in the midst of the Second World War. Kol Nidre is…
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