By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin, Chabad of Greater Dayton Kentucky native Wendell Berry writes of the genius of the life of the community. He grounded his novels, poems, and essays in the values of the farming community into which he was born. In an essay written more than three decades ago,

By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin, Chabad of Greater Dayton Our holidays each bring out a very particular energy, each one appropriate to the time in which it comes. Yet that energy is meant to infuse us throughout the year. Thus, we do not stop thinking of freedom once Pesach is over,

By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin, Chabad of Greater Dayton Moses Maimonides practiced medicine on the highest levels. He would write 10 medical treatises, become the court physician for Sultan Saladin in Cairo, and perhaps briefly to King Richard the Lion-Hearted as well. Maimonides is more famous for three major works, each

By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Dr. Masha Kisel wrote with personal authenticity on the immensely complex topic of abortion (Robbing mothers of their personhood, religious freedom, July Observer). I trust that words written from such a deep place will have their positive effect, in particular, in evoking a deeper and better

By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin, Chabad of Greater Dayton I remember walking into the classroom at Brandeis shortly after I had decided that I had a much more urgent desire to study Judaism than my major, psychology. I came from a place where we identified unequivocally as Jews but were sparse

By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin, Chabad of Greater Dayton Among the great comforts of this coldest and darkest season of the year is snuggling up with a good book. Not always does that mean we are turning to things we believe to be lofty. Comfort reading and dutiful reading mostly point

By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin, Chabad of Greater Dayton For the second time in three years, we are in a leap year. Our Jewish calendar is not just trying to stay in sync with the sun, as with the Gregorian and Julian calendars, but with the moon as well. Running shorter months,

By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin, Chabad of Greater Dayton I grew up in a home where the politics was middle-of-the-road, Cold War-consensus Republican. When, as a high-schooler, caught up in the growing disenchantment with the war in Vietnam, my politics veered wildly leftward, it led to some high-heat political debates at home.

By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin, Chabad of Greater Dayton There were many reasons why my path should never have crossed that of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, whose 20th yahrzeit (anniversary of his death) the world has just marked. My Jewish experience was limited to the liberal variety, and my

By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin, Chabad of Greater Dayton This month, we are once again starting the cycle of the Torah, reading again Bereshit, the Book of Genesis. It was my favorite part of the Torah as a child, and now reading it again and again each year as an adult,