Blog: “A Funeral for a Jewish War Veteran”
By Rabbi Dina Shargel
Rabbinical Assembly News and Events, December 2011
Reflections on the funeral of my father-in-law, with its combination of American military and Jewish rituals – and a reminder of what a privilege it is to be both Jewish and American.
Article: “Tzitz, Tzitzit and the Budding Plant” by Rabbi Dina Shargel
Zeramim, An Online Journal of Applied Jewish Thought – Fall 2017
Could the knots and fringes of tzitzit (at the corners of the tallit) have been inspired by a botanical image? This spiritual exploration begins with buds on a stem, stops to visit several biblical texts and culminates in a new way of looking at morning prayer.
Article: “Hanukkah Lights and Shabbat Lights”
By Rabbi Dina Shargel
To Banish Darkness; modern reflections on Hanukkah, edited by R. Menachem Creditor – published Nov. 23, 2018
A study in contrasts: Shabbat and Hanukkah feature ritual candlelighting ceremonies with vastly different underlying messages. Those messages are also complementary, each symbolizing certain basic Jewish values.
D’var Torah: “Yitro: Shamor and Zakhor, Shabbat and the World of Work”
By Rabbi Dina Shargel
The Jewish Standard/Times of Israel, Feb. 13, 2020
Is Shabbat, our Jewish quintessential day of rest, a memorial to Creation or a testimony to the Redemption? The Torah explains Shabbat in both ways. Digging under each one can help enhance our understanding of the nature of the work we do each weekday.
Interview: “The Passover has new relevance in the age of Coronavirus” Northjersey.com, April 6, 2020
As Passover nears, a journalist asks some rabbis: Should Covid-19 be considered a plague of the type visited by God upon the Egyptians in the Passover story? Responding in the negative, I point instead to the fact that we have gotten through rough times and made it to redemption in the past; Passover bids us to keep that in mind as we navigate our own difficult circumstances, and to look forward to the future with hope.
Blog: “Explaining the Deeper Meaning of the Friday night Kiddush”
By Rabbi Dina Shargel
Exploringjudaism.org, June 2022
It is traditional to intone the Kiddush, a blessing over wine and the holiness of Shabbat, at the Friday night dinner table, a particularly Jewish ritual. Yet at its core, the Kiddush underscores several values that are universal.