Recent Opinions

 I no longer recognize my country

In The Chronicle a few weeks back, Helene Lotman, asked ‘Whatever happened to humility?’  She did a superb job.  But other words too have disappeared.  Words that once had real meaning. Honor. Respect. Duty. Civility. Dignity. Chastity. Courtesy. Manners. Decency. Sportsmanship. Integrity. These, and others like them, are now consigned to the obscurity of dictionaries. I can no longer recognize my country.

Your vote for education

Rabbi Steinsaltz, who passed away Aug. 7 in Jerusalem at the age of 83, was a rabbi in the most authentic meaning of the word: he was an educator. And the world was Rabbi Steinsaltz’s student body. He spent decades teaching, writing, publishing, lecturing, mentoring and organizing, and all of this work was focused on bringing Jews closer to Judaism and Jewish sources.

Adam didn’t get it: 

Inspiration from Rabbi Zevi Wineberg’s maamar class

The miracle of existence – the profound struggle to find our collective and individual purpose for existence. Adam was given everything in Gan Eden and therefore lacked appreciation, until it was taken away. G-d, through Eve, coerced Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit – a lesson about choices in life that G-d allows us. We’re not given everything as in order to make “good” choices, one has to “learn” awareness, appreciation and gratitude for all we do have. Perhaps the existence of evil and our struggle in life, as well as our God-given ability to make choices is for the essential purpose to ultimately convince each of us to be grateful ¬– to appreciate the amazing miracle of existence brought forth by God.  Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Rabbis for Trump

Rabbi Alan Sherman is a Reform rabbi in southern Florida who is openly supporting President Donald J. Trump. Due to this support — which is common in the Centrist Modern and Haredi Orthodox rabbinate — he is being bullied by other Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist rabbis in the area.

By Helene Lotman
Guest Columnist

I recently read a very interesting article, “On Humility” by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. The word humility is seen in all Jewish texts; in fact, it is the first step in learning Torah. Moses, the greatest hero of Jewish tradition, is described in the Bible as “a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” Rabbi Sacks contends in his article that “humility is the orphaned virtue of our age.” He states, “there is an irrepressible human urge for recognition” and our culture has emerged out of various ways of “making a statement” rather than beliefs confessed in prayer.

The topic of teens and peer pressure is not a new phenomenon. Typically, the discussion focuses on sex, drugs and alcohol. The newest concern now, though, is the issue of observing social distancing. As soon as “Stay at Home” rules were eased, parents began expressing concerns about what type of protocol their teens are observing when getting together with friends. Your children might have every intention to follow the guidelines, but when they get to a gathering with friends, they see that many are not taking safety practices seriously. This is putting teens in a very tough situation. Do they say something and risk coming off as the “enforcer?” Do they stay and worry about their and others’ safety? Do they leave and risk being even more isolated from their friends?

Statement from Rabbinical Association in regard to Anderson County cartoon posting

We, the members of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City, express our strong disapproval of the disgraceful cartoon posted on the Anderson County Review’s Facebook page depicting Governor Laura Kelly wearing a mask with a Jewish Star of David on it, next to a drawing of people being loaded onto train cars. Its caption is, “Lockdown Laura says: Put on your mask ... and step onto the cattle car.”