I have been a dad for as long as I have been a Rabbi. In May of 2000 I was ordained as a Rabbi by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City, and in August of 2000 my wife and I welcomed our oldest daughter into the world in East Hampton, New York.
My Rabbinate was shaped by fatherhood as much as my style of parenting was shaped by my vocational choice. My daughter was followed by my two sons, now 7 and 1. Each one of them is a blessing, as well as a force to be reckoned with. Since June 2006 we have lived in Jupiter, Florida
where I am the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Am, a warm and welcoming Reform congregation. Having been raised in a modern orthodox family in Israel and now living my life as a Reform Rabbi in the U.S., issues of spirituality have always occupied me. As a father, questions of how to develop and nurture my children’s spiritual well-being have become more important as they grow up and are surrounded by so much “stuff” (material things, demands on their time, higher expectations, etc.). This blog is my place to reflect on these issues of parenting, spirituality and Judaism and hopefully start a conversation that will lead to more common sense parenting.