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Jul 6, 2018, 5:58 PM

Passion’s poison and purity

Times of Israel writer Sarah Tuttle-Singer offered a July 4th posting earlier this week. “On this day, 42 years ago, Jews were in mortal danger in a hostage nightmare in Entebbe, Uganda, and for the first time in our...

Jun 29, 2018, 5:58 PM

Justice Kennedy through a more spacious lens

‘Raising the young and pursuing the good’ are two of society’s highest aims. Achieving them, David Brooks reminds us this week, is not a do-it-yourself job. Their realization requires civic responsibility, generous mutuality, and strong community. By contrast, Justice...

Jun 22, 2018, 5:35 PM

When repentance seems remote

Moses strikes the rock in this week’s portion of Torah. The punitive consequences seem unfair. Not merely because the sin seems subtle, but because it is so irreversible. After all, Moses could be very persuasive. He had persuaded God to reconsider punishments before. But...

Jun 15, 2018, 11:39 PM

Greatness from Goodness

Sampson had last two consecutive Senatorial campaigns. He had a couple of liabilities that challenged his aptitude for political victory. First, he seemed to care more about better outcomes for his constituency - making sure the wrong person didn’t...

Jun 8, 2018, 6:16 PM

Remembering the plot

“Distractions can be our biggest problem and our lifesaver” a friend said to me this week. “When considering the news of the day, distractions lead us astray. Their allure causes us to veer from the essential toward the...

Jun 1, 2018, 11:13 PM

From narrow places to Godly expanse

“We live with the accelerator down from morning to night” Pope Francis asserts in the important new documentary, Pope Francis: A Man of His Word. “This ruins mental health, spiritual health, the family, and the society…What the Jews followed...

May 25, 2018, 5:46 PM

Presentation of Colors

“A flag, what is that?” rhetorically asks Theodore Herzl in a letter to a philanthropist following their unproductive meeting. “A stick with a rag on it? No, sir, a flag is more than that. For a flag men will...

May 18, 2018, 6:58 PM

Listening to every ‘I’ including the ‘I’ of God

“The press coverage on Monday” wrote Matti Friedman, “was a major Hamas success in a war whose battlefield isn’t really Gaza, but the brains of foreign audiences.” These days people’s heads seem less interested in information than in affirmation. ...

May 12, 2018, 1:06 AM

Where you stand depends upon where you’ve sat

Who was King David? Was he the young underdog against Goliath or the mighty warrior of battlefield prowess? Was he the abuser of power who attained Bathsheba or the righteous ancestor of the future messianic leader? Having spent the day with Michelangelo’s...

May 4, 2018, 6:18 PM

Likeness and likability

Who are you? “I’m a foreman in a factory” would have been a typical answer decades ago. But these days, with economic stress and a decline in manufacturing jobs, the same person might answer, “I’m white. And I don’t...

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About Me

Rabbi William Hamilton has served as rabbi (mara d'atra) of Kehillath Israel in Brookline, MA since 1995.