Rabbi Robert Scheinberg's page

This summer at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, I had the great privilege to teach a course called "Hamiltorah" ("חידושי הלמ''מ") -- passages from the Torah and rabbinic literature that illustrate themes from the remarkable musical "Hamilton."  You can find the source sheets at http://bit.ly/hamiltorah .  I created this class together with my friend and co-teacher and great Hamilton fan Hope Levav.  Topics (in Hamilton, and in this curriculum) include the qualities of a leader, leadership transitions, conflict resolution, responses to disaster, sibling rivalry, and planning for the future.

The Judaism Balancing Act adapted from Rabbi Scheinberg’s comments on the 2nd day of Rosh HaShanah 2015 A little more than 50 years ago, some American theater producers were trying to create a new play about about the Jewish experience in Eastern Europe.  This play - hopefully to be Broadway-bound - was to be based on the short stories of the Yiddish writer Sholom Aleichem, and it was to be a musical.  It was felt, though, that the original name of the story series - ‘Tevye the Dairyman’ - would not capture the attention of american audiences in the 1960s.  Just a few weeks before rehearsals were supposed to begin, they still hadn’t figured out the title.  They generated a long list of potential names, including “A Village Story,” “Make a Circle,” “Once There Was a Town”:“To Light a Candle,” “Three Brides and a Man,” “Homemade Wine,” “Not So Long Ago”.   The playwright, Joseph Stein, thought that they should choose “Where Poppa Came From.” But the sh...

As we approach the 15th anniversary of 9/11, I am posting my remarks to my community in Hoboken NJ on Rosh HaShanah 2001, exactly one week after the attacks. יהי זכרם ברוך -  may the memories of those who were murdered on that day always be for a blessing. ============================================================= The High Holiday services are among the most important opportunities for any rabbi to share a vision and a message and words of inspiration with the Jewish community. As soon as one High Holiday season begins, I start thinking about what topics I’ll want to address the following year. And whereas I am often the kind of person who works down to the wire, this year I was concerned because, as many of you may know, my wife is pregnant, and her due date is on the 2nd day of Rosh HaShanah. So I was faced with - what I thought at the time was - a real crisis - that perhaps I wouldn’t be able to be present for Rosh HaShanah services if she deliv...

I returned home this week after spending a few weeks as a Jewish educator and rabbinic resource at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. And greeting me on my return is the Torah portion of Va'ethanan, which reminds me of some of the value of learning about Judaism at summer camp.  The Torah portion of Vaethanan has been described as the 'greatest hits collection' of the torah.  This torah portion includes numerous well-known passages including the second retelling of the ten commandments, and verses quoted in the Torah service and in Aleinu.   But most famous of all is the Shema, which affirms our belief in one God and our commitment to perform various mitzvot as a way to keep this central teaching at the forefront of our minds. One of the Hasidic masters, Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, made a perceptive comment about one verse in this paragraph, that reminds us of an element of the core mission of Jewish learning in a summer camp context. The verse says, ' vehayu hadev...

My closing prayer at the Hoboken vigil on Wednesday evening June 15, in memory of those murdered in Orlando: I invite you to join me in praying to the Source of Life. Our various communities know you by many different names, but on this we agreed: we learned from You to treasure life. We learned from You that to take a life is like destroying the entire world, and to save a life is like saving the entire world. Dear God, Our heart breaks for 49 precious lives cut short because of who they were and who they loved. Where they gathered was supposed to be their safe space. In their memories, help us to make a safe world. Help us to make a safe world for our brothers and sisters who are gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender, who so often are targets of hatred and oppression and violence, so many of whom feel unsafe even in the best of times, let alone today. Help us to make a safe world for our brothers and sisters in this country who yearn simply to live their lives, t...

This is the note that I sent to the United Synagogue of Hoboken community following the Orlando murders. Dear friends, Our community, country and world are reeling after the tragic events in Orlando on Sunday morning.   Many of us are looking for a way to express our outrage at the murders in Orlando and to express solidarity with the families of those who were murdered, and with the LGBT community throughout the world that is disproportionately a target for hatred and violence.   We are all invited this evening (Wednesday June 15) at 7:15pm to participate in a vigil on the steps of Hoboken City Hall, with the participation of Mayor Zimmer, the Hoboken City Council, community clergy, and members of the LGBT community in our local area.    (See  http://patch.com/new-jersey/hoboken/hoboken-jersey-city-mourn-orlando-shooting-victims-vigil-set-tuesday-night )  I look forward to participating in this ceremony representing Hoboken's Jewish co...

This is the note I sent to my congregation.... As we approach Passover, I wanted to offer a few thoughts about an opinion published by Conservative Judaism's Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards that you might have seen earlier this year.  It has gotten a fair amount of news coverage (see, for example, http://www.jta.org/2016/04/12/ life-religion/rabbis-expand- the-passover-menu-but-will- conservative-jews-bite ).   Our rabbinic intern, Philip Gibbs, who is the secretary of the Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards, taught about this opinion this past shabbat.  Here is my summary of the issue.   ...