Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

Articles written by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld


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  • Orthodox Jews solidarity with gays

    Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, First person|Jun 24, 2016

    When our synagogue heard about the horrific tragedy that took place at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, it was at the same time that we were celebrating the festival of Shavuot, which celebrates God's giving of the Torah. As Orthodox Jews, we don't travel or use the Internet on the Sabbath or on holidays, such as Shavuot. But on Sunday night, as we heard the news, I announced from the pulpit that as soon as the holiday ended at 9:17 p.m. Monday, we would travel from our synagogue in Northwest...

  • The power of the covered wagons

    Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld|Jun 24, 2016

    Some of you might have seen the piece I wrote for The Washington Post describing our visit as a congregation to The Fireplace on Monday night. (See page 1 of the Heritage). I received an enormous amount of feedback about our story--emails and messages of support from all over the world. Clearly the visit resonated with people. When we announced that we were doing it, we thought it was going to be a small local thing just to connect on a human level with some members of the gay community in DC. But it grew and grew. Just to show you the impact...