The Big Mess about Messianic Jews By Rabbi Daniel Brenner As a rabbi who works each day with Presbyterian ministers and lay people at a historic Presbyterian seminary, I have to admit that I was deeply concerned when I received word that a “Messianic Jewish Community” opened in a Philadelphia suburb with over $300,000 of Presbyterian Church USA money. The new church (which does not call itself a church) is named Avodat Yisrael, which literally means “sacrifice of Israel”, and…
A few months ago, I met with Ilana Trachtman, director of Praying with Lior which is in the final stage of development. I saw a rough cut of the film, which is about the remarkable prayer skills of Lior Leibling, a young man with Down’s Syndrome who just had his bar mitzvah. Ilana is doing a phenomenal job with a difficult subject.
My first one act play is now available online from Dramatic Publishing. Here is a wonderful reading of the play that took place in 2016 in Hollywood, Florida. https://youtu.be/2e641jVJLAM
The Jewish Week recently ran a piece I wrote about SING SING.
Spiritual Activism: From Moses to Bob Marley’s Redemption Song Rabbi Daniel Brenner I begin with a story: The Parable of the Two Scrolls: A traveler walks down a path holding a scroll of paper in each hand. Every few minutes, the traveler stops along the way and unrolls one of the scrolls. “The whole world was created for me.” reads the first scroll. After reading this message, the traveler walks with pride, taking long strides on the journey, enjoying each…
I was asked to deliver the invocation at a time when the world was reeling from the revelations from Abu Gharib. Here’s what I came up with: INVOCATION Rudin Lecture, May 11, 2004 Eternal One, may it be your will that our coming together here, tonight, for a short time, will inspire and renew us. Though we come together from diverse religious traditions, with particular theologies and practices that guide us, may we invoke your name tonight together as a…
This past Monday I taught in Sing Sing to a group of inmates in the Masters of Theology program. 10 Christians, 4 Muslims, most of them lifers. It was intense being in the complex — located on a magnificent site overlooking the Hudson — and the students were clearly engaged. One of the best questions was “Have they come out with a new edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica? Our edition in the prison library in 1972, and I was wondering…
Yesterday we had our Sacred Space conference. University of Chicago’s Jonathan Z. Smith was the highlight – an eccentric Durkheimian. We also visited the Manhattan Mormon Temple. Here are some photos. . One of the protestant ministers on the tour said “Gosh, it looks like a funeral home.”
My book has recently been excerpted on beliefnet, which allows folks to write in their commentary. So far there are a few stories from folks who have dealt with loss.
I came acroos this masterpiece, a cartoon from the good old days when I taught Hebrew School. I sort of miss it. sort of.