Baruch HaBa! Welcome to my personal website.
Shalom and thank you for visiting my little corner of the web. This is a personal blog site, written from my perspective as a rabbi, as a husband and as a (grand)father. I aspire to share my spiritual ideals and my thoughts about religion, family, community and the world we live in. I am glad you are visiting today and hope you enjoy this site.
Orthodox Jews have Orthodox Rabbis. Likewise for Conservative and Reform Jews. But what about the unaffiliated? How about the disenfranchised, universalist, spiritual, secular, humanist, or ‘other’ Jews? The Baal Shem Tov said: The love God has for every Jew extends not only to the Jew’s soul but also to his body. God loves all Jews without distinction; the greatest Torah genius and scholar and the most simple Jew are loved equally by God. It is my job, my calling, to befriend, love, and serve those Jews who find community no where else. I am excited to share my love for Judaism with you.
I received semikah through the IANJ (which is now defunct) in 2022.
And since I get asked often:
My Approach to Judaism: The Quick Summary
My approach to Judaism, which I call Derekh HaTorah—the Way of the Torah—is a traditional, observant, and nonsectarian form of Rabbinic Judaism grounded in the Written Torah and the authoritative Oral Torah, especially as codified by the Rambam in the Mishneh Torah. I regard Torah as the binding foundation of Jewish belief, worship, ethics, and practice, while distinguishing its enduring commandments from later customs, institutional policies, political ideologies, and nonbinding theological speculation. At the same time, I believe that faithfulness to Torah must be joined with humility, compassion, and service: every Jew remains fully Jewish regardless of background, affiliation, knowledge, or level of observance, and no one should be shamed, excluded, or treated as inferior. My purpose is not to weaken Torah or use it as a weapon of judgment, but to teach it clearly, live it faithfully, encourage others to grow in mitzvot and ethical conduct, welcome respectful disagreement, serve all Jews without denominational barriers, and offer sincere converts a serious, supportive, and accessible path into the covenant and the Jewish people.