I’d like to thank Larry Horowitz and Deborah Noble for their hard work on the newsletter and to thank each of you for the opportunity to serve as the spiritual leader of Shaarei Torah. As a rabbi, it is a great honor to be requested to serve a community; and both myself and my wife Allison are grateful for this privilege. As time progresses, I hope to get to know each of you, your passions, joys, and needs, as we learn and grow within our beautiful spiritual tradition together.
     I have constantly told people that I am the most blessed person that I know. I have an amazing wife, family, and friends, and the blessings from G-d continue to flow with this new opportunity at Shaarei Torah. My background is diverse, and will hopefully help serve each of you as individuals and as a community.
     As an adjunct Professor in the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University, I have taught Judaism and Hebrew Scriptures, as well as Ethics and Kabbalah. I have a great love for our sacred texts and liturgy, and for exploring the text deeply in order to have a greater awareness and personal relationship with the words and meanings.
     Right after my Bar Mitzvah, there were Rabbis who chose to teach me our Jewish mystical tradition, and I have not only studied it for over 25 years, but taught it around the world. I have learned, experienced, and taught these traditions in both secular and synagogue settings as an integral part of Jewish liturgy, text, and holidays, in contrast to the current "pop Kabbalah" that is taught in so many places, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Each of our holidays has deep meanings that we often ignore… teachings that can affect our daily lives in profound ways. It is my hope that together, we will learn and share our own understandings of the text and holidays so that we can grow as individuals and as a community.
     I’ve also been blessed to spend many years with indigenous cultures; and find that the information and experiences I’ve had with these cultures only helps with an understanding of Judaism. I have taught “Cross-Cultural Mysticism and Meditation” around the country, and utilized the information about spiritual awareness from Judaism and other cultures as a “peak performance coach” with executives and athletes around the globe. Each of us has our own “tikkun”; a piece of repairing the world that only we can do; and I believe strongly that part of the job of a rabbi is to help each individual in finding and achieving their own tikkun through sharing and understanding the teachings of our Sages. Everything we do, even throwing a baseball or directing a film, is a “spiritual” pursuit, an opportunity to strengthen and deepen our relationships with others and with G-d.
     We will learn a lot about each other as time goes by, and many of my opinions and the teachings that I’ve shared can also be found in periodicals such as the Forward, the Jewish Journal, and other news-papers and magazines. For now, please feel free to contact me directly so that we can get to know each other over a meal or a cup of tea; and let me know what some of your goals are for this wonderful community. Adult education classes will start soon, and the topics will be current and meaningful. Our tradition has much to share; and it is my hope and prayer that we will all share together in the rich tradition that is Judaism.
     In Pirkei Avot, our Sages teach, “Make for yourself a teacher, acquire for yourself a friend.” Allison and I look forward to learning with and from each of you, and to becoming a community of teachers and dear friends.