Rabbi Robert Scheinberg's page

I just bought my Lulav and Etrog on the Lower East Side this morning -- and was thinking of these words that I wrote a few years ago.  Chag Sameach! NOTE FROM SUKKOT 2014:   This piece is still accurate except that the lulav and etrog scene on the Lower East Side gets smaller with each passing year - maybe 3 vendors rather than dozens. If you want to see dozens, go to Williamsburg or Boro Park. NOTE FROM SUKKOT 2022:  As far as I can tell, we are down to just one Lulav and Etrog vendor on the Lower East Side.  This scene may fade from history in the next few years. ============================================================== There are many ways to buy a lulav and etrog (the palm branches and citron traditionally carried in the synagogue on the holiday of Sukkot).  There are some people who buy a lulav and etrog, in anticipation of Sukkot, from a Judaica store, or from their synagogue, or from a lulav and etrog wholesaler.  For me, however, ther...

(adapted from my Shofar Newsletter article from 2011) Here’s a good question to ask in August: What does the Torah teach us about how to go on vacation? The initial answer might be, not so much. You would have a hard time coming up with references to vacation in the Torah. Perhaps you could say that the institution of Shabbat is like a weekly vacation, but that’s pretty metaphorical. In general, there’s not much leisure described in the torah. What there IS a lot of in the Torah – is travel. Abraham moves to the land of Israel. The people of Israel go down to Egypt, and then take a long and scenic route for forty years back to the land of Israel. But it’s hard to describe all that travel as being like tourism. Most of it is more like desperate wandering and displacement, which is rather different from vacation. But surprisingly, there is a reference to going away on vacation in the Torah portion of Re’eh (which we will read this year on Saturday, August 18, 2012). ...

This evening, I attended a candlelight vigil in memory of those who were murdered in the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.  The event was organized by the Sikh Coalition, the Sikh community in Jersey City, and the city of Jersey City.  It took place at Jersey City Hall and included the participation of a wide range of political and religious leaders.  My remarks at that event are below: In July 2009 I attended the inauguration of Hoboken’s elected officials, including City Councilman Ravi Bhalla. I remember that the emotional high point of that day for me came when I saw that the Councilman was taking the oath of office with his hand on a book of the Sikh scriptures. And it reminded me of my pride when I had watched Hoboken’s Jewish elected officials taking THEIR oaths of office with their hands on a Hebrew-language edition of the Torah, just as Christian elected officials take the oath with their hands on a Bible of their choice. It filled me with pride t...

Here's a link to the essay on the liturgy of Tisha B'Av that I wrote for the Rabbinical Assembly's Tisha B'Av and Kinot volume. http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/publications/tishah-bav/liturgy-tishah-bav.pdf

My synagogue owns a set of huge ma h zorim – prayerbooks for Jewish holidays – that was printed in Lithuania in 1914. I like to look at these books every year as July 4 approaches.  I carefully turn their yellowed, crumbling pages until I get to the Prayer for the Government, recited shortly after the reading of the Torah and Haftarah.  And in this prayerbook, the prayer reads: Mahzor Kol-Bo , Vilna, 1914 TRANSLATION: May He Who grants salvation to kings and dominion to rulers, Whose kingdom is a kingdom spanning all eternity, Who releases David, his servant, from the evil sword, Who places a road in the sea and a path in the mighty waters – May He bless, protect, guard, assist, elevate, exalt, and lift upwards Our master CZAR NIKOLAI ALEXANDROVICH, With his wife, the honorable CZARINA ALEXANDRA FEODOROVNA Their son, the crown prince ALEXI NIKOLAIOVICH And his mother, the honorable CZARINA MARIA FEODORAVNA And the entire house of...

The following words are adapted from my Yizkor sermon on Yom Kippur 2011.   I am glad to say that since I wrote these words in September 2011, Rabbi Ronnie Cahana’s health has been gradually improving, and he is recovering his ability to speak.   We wish him a continued refuah shleimah. I have a colleague who is a Conservative rabbi in the Montreal area named Rabbi Ronnie Cahana.  He is in his mid-50’s.   I have only met him a couple of times, but his poetry and writing are legendary. Rabbi Cahana is attracting a fair amount of attention right now around the world - for either a very troubling reason, or a very inspiring reason, or both, depending on your perspective.   Sadly, Rabbi Cahana suffered a massive stroke in his brain stem this summer, and he has been hospitalized ever since.   He has been unable to talk, to move his limbs, or even to wave his hand. But his situation is unusual and unique in that he apparently has absolutely no cog...