This week marks the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana. For clergy across our country, this has been a particularly difficult year. It has been a year marked with deep reflection about the values we hold most dear. It has been a year of many surprises.

As a rabbi and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, the final days of this year have been particularly surprising and concerning. This December, the Supreme Court will hear Federal Republic of Germany v. Alan Philipp, et al.