Happy New Year, 5776, or 14,000,005,776 (exactly!)

Draft (from Septetmber 2015)

Happy New Year!  

First of all a word of encouragement:  If you want to read a good article, a really good article, please click here:  http://tinyurl.com/nsxh3w2

Welcome back!I hope you enjolyed th article as much as I did.  For 30 years or so, I have tried to to say the same thing, but so much more inelegantly 

The role of the clergy



A draft (September 2015)

One of the most discussed issues in the last millennium of Jewish history has been the role of the Rabbi.
Of course, even other religions' clergy are not exempt from this discussion.    But I suspect that nowhere is the debate as emotional as in Judaism.  And furthermore, I cannot have an opinion about the role of clergy in Christianity or in Islam, and one thing I have tried to avoid in this blog is to express opinions about things I know nothing about.  
What is the role of the Rabbi in what's called "Shul politics"?

By Richard Gavatin

On the occasion of IKAR’s 20th -A Cautionary tale and a Celebration

  Cautionary tale: Close to 25 years ago, I began studying the central prayer in our liturgy.   The Shemoneh Esreh or Amidah, in its week...