Rabbi Daniel Brenner

Poetry for the High Holidays 5765 I am allergic to prayer I am allergic to prayer. I write in the other slot. Forms on a latex clipboard. Doctor’s waiting room. Checking off my imperfections. To the rhythm of smooth jazz. Soundtrack to boredom. Supplications too. And exultations, hoshannas, Even hallelujahs. I’m experiencing recurring liturgical aversions. Is there some form of anti-something? A booster shot? An elixir? A purple pill? At fifteen I took a hayride around Stone Mountain, Georgia. The…

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A Report from the Parliament of the World’s Religions By Rabbi Daniel Brenner Over the drone of the harmonium in the Sikh’s makeshift Gudwara, I overheard a Buddhist monk and a Sikh discussing species extinction and reincarnation: “What if a person’s soul is destined for a near extinct species, like the spotted owl?” the monk asked. “If the species becomes extinct then would that soul be stuck in limbo for eternity?” The Parliament of World’s Religions, an idea that was…

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I just got my first article in a glossy magazine — Spirituality and Health — October issue. This is the piece I wrote awhile back on ‘under God’ While I proudly placed the mag on the radiator by the toilet (I got an advanced copy in the mail) it has a bizarre ad for a biofeedback video game on the back cover that is freaking me out. http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/newsh/items/blank/item_3019.html Under God By Rabbi Daniel S. Brenner Now that the Supreme Court…

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Here is the piece that I’ll be submitting to the String of Pearls newsletter: Elohim, ten li et h’atikvah lekabel ma she’ein Ten li et hakoach leshanot et ma sheken. et haomets lenasot letaken et ha’olam. G-d, give me the hope to accept what there isn’t Give me the strength to change what is Give me the courage to try to fix the world. These words, although they could have been chanted in a Psalm by King David, a poem…

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from www.nickdenton.org Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you A brilliantly counter-intuitive idea from Daniel Brenner about the rebuilding of the site of the World Trade Center. “Building a mosque on the site would also send a message to the Islamic world about America, and our commitment to the freedom of religion. At a time when many Muslims are being fed endless distortions about America and what we value, it will take more than a publicity mission…

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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.

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…

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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…

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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.