As a musician I believe that music is a great teacher. The lessons that musicians are able to learn through music, if they’re willing to learn them, go far beyond the mechanics of playing any particular instrument. In this, one of my favorite TED Talks, Israeli conductor, Itay Talgam, studies the conducting styles of several […]
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Open questions
Here’s my bias: I think it’s good to be open. I think that openness is a fundamental posture that human beings can assume to matters of ultimate concern. We can and should have open eyes, open minds, open hearts, open arms, open homes, and open doors. Being open is better than being closed– always and […]
Everyone loves a raffle
Because it’s the Hebrew month of Adar and Jewish tradition encourages us to not take ourselves too seriously and have a little fun I’ve been thinking of ways to spice up some of the weekly prayer services we have at The Davis Academy. Last week we did something so fun and so simple it actually […]
Southern Snow
This week we had our first (and last?) snow flurries in Atlanta. I was walking down the hallway to visit a teacher when I saw one, two, then 10 kids running by, throwing on their coats as they ran. Once they’d seen snow flurries outside their classroom window the teacher’s lesson plan was put on […]
Voicemail
Not unlike the handwritten letter, voicemail is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Leaving voicemail (not to mention checking voicemail) is a cumbersome task. You’ve got to push a few buttons, wait a few seconds, and then endure the sound of the human voice, all the while wondering how said human voice is going […]
When a Mentor Becomes a Colleague
This week I had the honor of leading a session for the NFTY Convention’s Youth Summit which took place in Atlanta. The session was titled, “Igniting the Spark: Adolescent Spirituality” and it was lead by me and my colleague, Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire, dean of the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education at Hebrew College. […]