Judaism trains our minds to frame what could otherwise be unremarkable moments and transform them into sacred occasions. On a January morning in 2007, in the middle of rush hour, a young man stepped out of a subway train into L’Enfant Plaza Station in Washington DC and positioned himself against a wall near a trash [...]
Being able to acknowledge what we have in life is itself a blessing. Parashat Re’eh 5771 A few moments ago, the cantor chanted birkat ha-hodesh, a special blessing said on the Shabbat before the new moon to announce the advent of the coming month. Our Hazzan sings the blessing so beautifully. I happen to know [...]
Rosh Hashanah 5771 The Rabbi, the Cantor, and the President of the synagogue were flying home from a conference when their plane crashed on a tiny pacific island. The three men crawled out of the wreckage only to be captured by a tribe of vicious cannibals. The chief of the tribe said to the men, [...]
Parashat Haazinu / Shabbat Shuvah 5770 After being here for over a year, the change in seasons still astounds me. On September 21 – the autumnal equinox – almost like clockwork, the weather changed drastically. We had a beautiful warm end of summer and now, all of a sudden, fall has arrived. This week it [...]
The High Holy Days call up on us – both as individuals and as a community – to rediscover the treasures within ourselves that allow us to be the best we can be. Rosh Hashanah 5770 / September 20, 2009 Less than 2 weeks ago, a reporter from the Inter-Mountain Jewish News called me – [...]
Rabbi Salomon Gruenwald has served as the Associate Rabbi of Congregation HEA in Denver, CO since his ordination from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles in 2008. He also serves as a volunteer chaplain with the Denver Police Department. He and his spouse, Melanie Gruenwald, have three children.
