Rabbi Sonsino Many people say “I am not religious” when they actually mean, “I am not observant.” What is the difference between the two...

The traditional explanation of why the festival of Hanukah is celebrated for eight days is based on a Talmudic passage: Oil for one day, ...

Rabbi Sonsino In the mid 70s, a Canadian-Jewish movie called “The Lies my Father Told Me” became popular. It dealt with the relationship...

Rabbi Sonsino Many people turn away from prayer because they realize that it can rarely produce concrete results. Therefore, it is impor...

Rabbi Sonsino In confronting daily struggles, some people remain apathetic and ignore them, hoping the problems will go away; others, co...

Rabbi Sonsino Recently I learned that Perfection Valley is a fictional place in Nevada where the ex-silver mining town of Perfection was...

This post originally appeared on The Good Men Project After seeing his son’s excitement about Degas, Picasso, and Warhol—CJ Kaplan realiz...

Rabbi Sonsino During my congregational rabbinate, I was fortunate to work with dedicated leaders and board members. However, among them ...

Rabbi Sonsino For the last few years, every summer, my wife, Ines, and I went to Barcelona, Spain, spending from two weeks to a month, i...

What is a Mezuzah?: On Monday, Kindergarten Enrichment kicked off a new inquiry: What is a mezuzah? The children shared their initial ide...