Shabbat Sermon: In the Cosmic Battle Between Good and Evil, What Can I Do?

In 1986, Professor Ray Scheindlin of the Jewish Theological Seminary authored a book with an evocative title: Wine, Women, & Death: Medieval Hebrew Poems on the Good Life. The book featured the poetry of Jewish poets who lived during the Golden Age of Jewish Spain. They lived the good life, with rich homes with gardens and pools and fountains. They wrote poetry about their good life, about their gardens and pools and fountains. Most of these poets were secular. And they were rooted in Judaism. At home in Spain. At home in Judaism. The Golden Age.

But something happened to the Golden Age. It ended.