By Rabbi Michael Holzman Over my years at Rodeph Shalom I hope that I have been able to communicate my somewhat complicated relationship with Zionism and Israel.  While I certainly call myself a Zionist and believe firmly that there needs to be a Jewish state in the Land of Israel,...

By Rabbi Michael Holzman Every year when our elected officials have to pay the bills they make choices.  In a year when tax revenues are way down, they must wrestle with their decisions.  In Pennsylvania, this year, the choices were brutal, and the budget process drawn out.  What finally emerged...

Boy is it cold out there.  For me, a Miami boy, this is skin-peeling cold.  I know because I just walked four blocks up Broad Street in this wind.  I was walking to visit my friend Josh at the Red Shield Shelter.  Josh is the Business Manager at the shelter,...

Rabbi Michael G. Holzman As I drove into the synagogue today, following my usual route down Broad Street, I entered the annual traffic jam called Temple University Drop Off.   What a mess.  But it reminded me of the excitement, anxiety, joy and sadness this day evokes in many families.  It...

On my door I have a "Stop the Genocide" sticker. It's been there for over three years now, and the war in Darfur drags on. So why am I fasting on what seems like a random day in August 2009 for this cause? Why not let it simmer on the...

What are Zionism and Anti-Zionism and why a standard of universal ethics is an inherently Anti Zionist position. I plea for some lefty intellectual Anti Zionist out there to answer the question, "What happens to the Jews the day after one-man, one-vote includes 6 million Palestinians and only 5.3 million...