Scott Korb & Rabbi Leon A Morris The Baltimore Sun It’s been nearly 30 years since author Anne Rolphe reflected on her family’s Christmas tree in The New York Times with the essay “Christmas Comes to a Jewish Home.” Rolphe’s December 1978 essay elicited a strong reaction from many Jews who rightfully objected to the ways … Read more
Editor’s Note: The Aug. 10 article, “Reform Youth Flexing Their Ritual Muscle,” on the desire by some Reform youth for greater ritual, sparked a variety of reactions from readers as to how to interpret this reported trend and the attitudes of an older generation of Reform rabbis. Here, two of the younger generation of Reform … Read more
BY SCOTT M. KORB AND LEON A. MORRIS In the Book of Exodus, after hearing God’s voice and with Moses on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments, the ancient Israelites create and worship a golden calf, proclaiming, “This is our God.” An angry Moses breaks the stone tablets when he descends to the foot of … Read more
January 1999 Rabbi Leon A. Morris In this week’s Torah portion, Vayechi, Joseph and his brothers show two very different ways of reacting in response to the past. Joseph’s brothers fear that he will take revenge on them once their father has died. They ask, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and … Read more
Rabbi Leon A. Morris, Sh’ma Journal At the time of publication the writer was a fourth year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College Reform Judaism will grow and thrive not by thoughtlessly seeking out a perceived “center”, but by recapturing the sense of dialectic that Judaism has always treasured and Reform has all but lost. … Read more