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In Praise of RBG

07/05/2018 04:26:17 PM

Jul5

In Praise of RBG

A time will come in the next generation when we will have to explain to our children and grandchildren how it was that even into the middle of the 20th century women were considered lesser. How could it be that opportunities and possibilities enjoyed by men were closed to women simply because they are women? And when they asked us how that changed, how women earned equal rights, there will be many stories to tell. Among...Read more...

Shabbat Parashat Naso

05/24/2018 06:01:57 PM

May24

Reprinted from Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies of American Jewish University's Today's Torah publication.

SHABBAT PARASHAT NASO

Today, I am a Man!

All of five feet tall in his stiff new suit and shiny shoes, he can barely be seen over the bima. In a cracking adolescent voice, he announces, "Today I am Bar Mitzvah. Today I am a man!" Yes, you are. But what do you know about...Read more...

Podcasts: Jay's 4 Questions and 18 Questions with Rick Recht

05/23/2018 10:30:36 AM

May23

A Conversation with Rabbi Ed Feinstein, Jay's 4 Questions podcast with Jewish Federation CEO Jay Sanderson, May 16, 2018.

Jay Sanderson speaks with Rabbi Ed Feinstein, Senior Rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom, about the role of rabbis and Jewish life through generations. Rabbi Feinstein discusses the power of that sacred moment when family, ideas, food, and conversation all become one during Shabbat dinner.

Expressing his...Read more...

Teaching Godliness. A Tribute for Malkah Schulweis

05/03/2018 10:52:22 AM

May3

On Sunday evening, May 6, our community will gather at the
2018 Gala Celebration to recognize and celebrate Malkah Schulweis.

~ These are the opening remarks prepared by Rabbi Ed Feinstein ~

Teaching Godliness.
A Tribute for Malkah Schulweis

I asked the children in our school -- what's the difference between a noun and a verb?

Every child...Read more...

RECOVERING THE DREAM: THE LEGACY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING

04/04/2018 12:39:25 PM

Apr4

Rosh Hashanah in 2003 marked the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's immortal “I Have a Dream” speech. On that occasion, I shared the following sermon with the VBS community. This week, we commemorate the 50th yahrtzeit of Dr King, the fiftieth year since his assassination. Ironically, it falls during these days of Pesach -- our holiday of liberation from slavery and our celebration of human dignity. It is fitting to return...Read more...

You Matter

01/18/2018 01:52:21 PM

Jan18

“In everything there is a living point from the Root of Life.  But that inwardness lies hidden in this world.  The Jew has to arouse and reveal this inwardness that lies within all things”  (Sefat Emet)

I first met Mark Borovitz in 1990. Someone told me there was remarkable man who had just come out of jail and had a message to share with Jewish young people. I was the director of Camp Ramah. I...Read more...

Address to the GA

11/15/2017 05:16:00 PM

Nov15

Address to the GA
Rabbi Ed Feinstein
November 13, 2017

In 1965, the great Jewish philosopher, Abraham Joshua Heschel stood at this podium and addressed the GA, assembled in Montreal.

“There are two words I should like to strike from our vocabulary,” he declared, “ 'surveys' and 'survival'.”

Twenty five years before the National Jewish Population Study, fifty years before...Read more...

AKEDA

11/02/2017 01:26:35 PM

Nov2

This week, we will read Parshat Va-yera, which concludes with the story of Akedat Yitzchak, The Binding of Isaac. Remarkably, archaeologists in Israel recently discovered a note, stuck to an ancient refrigerator door by a magnet, from Abraham to Sarah, that sheds new light on the story. Here is the text, translated from the ancient Hebrew.

 

Dearest Sarah,

The boy is alive....Read more...

4 Southern California faith leaders reflect on Charlottesville violence and the ‘toxin of white supremacy'

08/15/2017 01:04:27 PM

Aug15

4 Southern California faith leaders reflect on Charlottesville violence and the ‘toxin of white supremacy'

From left: Rev. Norman D. Copeland, pastor at St. Paul AME Church in San Bernardino; Rabbi Ed Feinstein, Valley Beth Shalom; Rev. Susan Russell, All Saints Church in Pasadena; Imam Muzammil H. Siddiqi, Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove.Read more...

Talking to a Wall

06/26/2017 03:08:58 PM

Jun26

Talking to a Wall
Rabbi Ed Feinstein

In the middle of the summer, we commemorate T'sha B'Av, the ninth day of the month of Av. This year, it will begin the evening of July 30. On this day, the long history of Jewish tragedies are remembered -- the destruction of our holy Temple and of our holy city, Jerusalem, the long history of Jewish exile, the expulsions, pogroms, and persecutions that haunt Jewish memory....Read more...

Fri, April 26 2024 18 Nisan 5784