Rabbi Yossy Goldman

Author Archive

  • Jun 12, 2025
    We Jews often look at worldwide trends and have the feeling, whether articulated or not, that it’s not our problem. It could never happen to us. Could it occur in our...
  • Jun 5, 2025
    Jews are currently in the afterglow of Shavuot, when we commemorate the great revelation at Sinai, where the entire nation of Israel—millions of men, women and...
  • May 29, 2025
    I knew a rabbi who loved food and would always say that Shavuot was his favorite holiday. Why? He explained, “On Passover, you can eat where you want, but you may not eat what...
  • May 8, 2025
    If I asked you to name the most famous line in the Bible, what would you answer? While Shema Yisrael (“Hear O’Israel”) might get many votes, I imagine...
  • May 1, 2025
    As a rabbi, I’ve often had to juggle conflicting life-cycle events in a single day. I’ve gone from a funeral to a wedding, from a brit milah to an unveiling,...
  • Apr 17, 2025
    How important is tradition in Judaism? Obviously, the answer is that it is very important. I mean, they even dedicated a major song by that title in “Fiddler on the...
  • Apr 3, 2025
    Passover is around the corner, and I will be so presumptuous as to suggest that you may have opened your favorite Haggadah to have a look and start preparing for the big seder...
  • Mar 27, 2025
    There have been a variety of inquiries and investigations into the reasons that Israel was so shockingly vulnerable to the unprecedented terrorist attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023....
  • Mar 20, 2025
    This week’s Torah portion, Vayakhel, tells the story of how the Jewish people fulfilled the instructions of God to build the very first house of God in history....
  • Feb 20, 2025
    When it comes to religion, how much is belief, and how much is rational? Is Judaism a rational religion? Does being religious require a leap of faith? Perhaps other faiths do. I...
  • Feb 13, 2025
    Have you ever met a professor of comparative religion? I’ve often wondered whether these academics have really studied all religions and if they believe in any of them. In this...
  • Jan 23, 2025
    People say that “it’s better to do the right thing for the wrong reasons than the wrong thing for the right reasons.” But surely, everyone would agree that we...
  • Jan 9, 2025
    As a rule, when people choose to embrace their heritage and begin practicing their faith seriously, rabbis suggest a step-by-step approach. In our Jewish journeys, “instant...
  • Jan 3, 2025
    Shock and humiliation! Can you imagine how the brothers must have felt at that moment of truth? How deeply ashamed they must have been. Their little brother of 17 is now in his 30s...