Memphis Local, Sports, Business & Food News | Daily Memphian | Micah Greenstein

Opinion: Society's health is gauged by how it treats the most vulnerable

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 04:00:06 -0500

A society that neglects its elders and its youngest children, a community that abandons the elderly or allows children to go hungry and unprotected, lessens the sacred potential of every community.

Opinion: Baseball is a potent metaphor for life

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 04:00:04 -0500

Both baseball and religion are often dismissed as boring, tedious, and unexciting by spectators. However, this perception usually stems from an unfamiliarity with the nuances of each.

Opinion: Presidents Day is a good time to commit to your most deeply held beliefs

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 04:00:04 -0600

“You don’t have to be a president or famous to believe in freedom, dignity, character, honor, goodness, generosity or integrity.”

Opinion: The digital world has created a massive dating gap

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 04:00:06 -0600

“The solution requires a dual approach, addressing both the immediate need for better meeting places and the deeper social crisis affecting young men.”

Opinion: Chanukah is about the strength of faith and finding light even in the darkest of times

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 14:31:29 -0600

“Whether Chanukah falls in middle or late December, this is the season when long anticipated movies are released, including the second movie installment of the iconic Broadway musical ‘Wicked.’”

Opinion: Embracing the best moment of life

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 23 Nov 2025 04:00:06 -0600

“May this Thanksgiving week awaken the power within each of us to give and receive thanks, to uncloud our minds from the unnecessary things and embrace the best moment of life.”

Opinion: This Halloween, wear a mask — but don't hide behind it.

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 26 Oct 2025 04:00:11 -0500

“On Nov. 1, may we learn to do a better job of taking off our masks, the facades that sometimes blind us from being who we really are and becoming the blessings we were meant to be.”

Opinion: Every year is a new beginning when you open your heart

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 12:26:28 -0500

Every day is a new beginning, and every year is a fresh start. That’s the larger message of the Jewish high holy days, which started this past week with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and continue for 10 days through Yom Kippur.

Opinion: Upholding Memphis' reputation as a generous city

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:00:04 -0500

“My philanthropic heroes, whether congregants on fixed incomes or billionaires like Warren Buffett, embody a rare attribute. Sacrificial giving means contributing beyond one’s self, not merely after one’s self-pursuits or leisure.”

Opinion: Bridging generations for community betterment

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 16:54:31 -0500

“What Memphis truly needs are those who love this city, whether native or newcomer, seeing it not just as it is but as it could be.”

Opinion: Trump's defunding of universities is an attack on knowledge itself

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 04:00:14 -0500

“It is hard to understand how defunding scientific research and the arts, and preventing the enrollment of international students, aligns with the administration’s stated goal of combating antisemitism.”

Greenstein: Memorial Day is more than a vacation day

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 25 May 2025 07:25:51 -0500

“All Americans owe the families of the servicemen and women who died serving our country more than lip service in gratitude, appreciation and reverence.”

Greenstein: Celebrating Passover while immigrants go to bed in fear

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 04:00:00 -0500

“Freedom is hollow and meaningless until and unless we accept responsibility individually and communally for assuring freedom for all.”

Greenstein: We must accept each other’s existence and work together for the greater good

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 11:10:52 -0500

There are more than 53 Muslim countries in the world, and more than 60 majority-Christian countries. There is only one Jewish country, so why would good people of all faiths not recognize the right of the only Jewish state to simply exist?

Greenstein: 'Religion for adults means embracing complexity'

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 04:00:08 -0600

“Science is essential to understanding how things work, but science will never explain why things matter to the human heart.”

This Passover, a global pandemic puts the 10 plagues in perspective

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:21:51 -0600

Confined to our homes and apartments, Jews across Memphis, America and the world will impart the same timeless lessons of Passover via Zoom and digital touchpoints instead of large in-person seder gatherings.

Opinion: Micah Greenstein's letter from Israel

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:21:35 -0600

The senior rabbi of the largest synagogue in Tennessee on how “religious and nationalist zealots of all faiths can wreck any country, as we all know – and Israel is on the brink of disenfranchising the majority of the Jewish people in the Diaspora.”

Greenstein: Hanukkah's message is one of hope

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:21:18 -0600

“Moving from the original Hebrew, there are actually eight different ways to spell the name of this week’s Jewish holiday in English — all of them correct. No matter how you letter it, Hanukkah contains a beautiful and powerful message.”

Greenstein: 'Children are truly our greatest spiritual teachers'

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 04:00:07 -0600

“We sometimes forget how the unique perspective of children, particularly babies and toddlers, can foster our own faith.”

Greenstein: L’chayim — to life!

rabbig@timemphis.org (Micah Greenstein) — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 22:19:00 -0600

“I have often marveled how ‘L’chayim’ and Jewish prayers in general were written when my ancestors were persecuted. ... They still contended that life has infinite meaning and light can and must pierce the darkness. ”