Tag: Rabbi

  • Imprisoned Childhood /Holy Justice

    Right before a judge decides a sentence, they should be reminded they are sentencing that man’s children, too. Prison is full of fathers. Midjourney AI-Generated Image Some are the “stereotypical” 20-somethings who got a girl (or girls) pregnant on their way to prison, but most I’ve met are men in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and…

  • Erev Passover Pickup Line

    “Hey, is your tush Chametz? Because it’s on fire.” Try it on your girlfriend or wife! Satisfaction* guaranteed! (If you don’t understand this joke, ask your Rabbi. But apologize before … and after.) Chag Kasher v’Sameach. Happy Passover. Love, Ari *Not hers or yours.

  • Quick Torah thought: Metzora

    Hi Friends, One quick Torah Thought inspired-by this week’s parsha, Metzorah: We again visit the topic of Tzaraat, an infliction of the surfaces of the house, property, clothes, and (eventually) body, as a punishment for speaking “Lashon HaRa” (“The evil tongue”). The Rambam explains that Lashon Hara, *true* gossip about someone, is more evil than…

  • Boundaries & Birds

    Hi Friends, Hello from FCI Miami where the geese and birds had babies and are training them around the lake. It’s pretty cute, and an unexpected joy to watch. A few quick Torah thoughts for this week: I’ve been learning Bava Bathra (Basra), a tractate of Talmud that deals largely with architectural & civil planning…

  • The Men Inside (Child Abuse)

    “At 7, I was bound, abducted, and forced to have sex with other children, in a cinderblock room, much like I was kept at The Building,” says David (name changed). He has said this twice, in the past week, the entire time we’ve known each other since he arrived from “The Building”, what the men…

  • If you build it…

    Hi Friends, A few quick Torah thoughts… In this and last week’s Torah portions, YaYakhel and Pikudei, G-d tells Moses to have the people build the Mishkan, Tabernacle, a traveling Temple that our Rabbis explain was a “home for G-d” to convene with the Jewish people until we built the Temple in Jerusalem, a model…

  • Fight the Weak

    Joey (name changed) twitches like a lovable toy robot dropped down the stairs a few too many times. The batteries are fully charged, but jerky movements let you know something’s loose inside. Still, his smile radiates with a shy glee and his eyes [reveal] a brain working overtime. It doesn’t tell him nice things. “I…

  • Teaching Art in Prison

    Last night, I taught a drawing class to a room full of men accused of crimes ranging from armed bank robbery, to child porn, to drug running, to white-collar fraud, to illegal migration, to public corruption… The Education building of FCI Miami Low looks like a small school, but with the same heavy steel doors…

  • From moments of despair to moments of joy

    Some days you wake up in prison and some days you wake up IN prison. Today was one of those days where the steel bars feel a little colder and tighter in the morning. You think back to things destroyed, opportunities killed, relationships harmed or ended… you think of the stress, the loss, the folks…