I had the pleasure of sharing my thoughts on the topic of “Wintering: Letting Within and Without Lie Fallow” with our neighbouring congregation at NUUC this past Sunday morning. We are fortunate to share wisdom and community through this unique Multifaith relationship. A few months after my 29th birthday I was in a serious car …
Wintering: Letting Within and Without Lie Fallow Read More »
“Happy New Year!” This phrase can be heard starting in December and continuing through January in every store and street, in each gathering and encounter. It is a beautiful wish for our human family: May 2023 prove to bring you much happiness and joy. May 2023 usher in greater gladness and merriment. The Jewish calendar …
“Time is the soul of this world,” wrote Greek philosopher Pythagoras over two millenia ago. How right he was! The span of our lives is so often marked by noting the passage of time: a birthday to mark our increasing age, an anniversary to acknowledge our loving partnerships, the counting of school grades our children …
I want to thank my supportive, inspiring sermon hevrutah/thought partner and dear friend, Shira Stutman, for working out these ideas together. You can hear her Rosh Hashana sermon on Chutzpod. It’s been 3 years since we’ve gathered together like this as a community in person – how precious and moving. Seeing each others’ eyes, even …
Rosh Hashanah Sermon 5783 – Meeting Each Other In Loss and In Comfort Read More »
I grew up at a large Conservative shul where I only ever saw men leading prayer and ritual. This was a time at our shul when girls could be called to the Torah on the day of their bat mitzvah, which was a pretty recent concession to the rabble-rousing feminists in the community, but rather …
Listen for moment. Can you hear the shofar? Be still and take a slow breath – inhaling deeply, exhaling and emptying out. Can you hear it? You are being called. We have just begun the Hebrew month of Elul. It’s the month leading up to Rosh Hashana and the intensive …
My sister is regularly my teacher. With a commitment to engaging in substantive steps toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, she has started a new practice when she leads workshops on Unconscious Bias (which she does regularly). Rather than sharing a Land Acknowledgement, she begins with a Pledge. The Pledge is an evolving statement of specific commitments to learning, …
Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and Jewish Values Read More »
This Saturday night and Sunday, Jews around the world will stand at the foot of Mount Sinai together, listening. It is the holyday of Shavuot. Exactly seven weeks from the second night of Pesach, we celebrate the collective and communal experience of revelation and the giving of the Torah. This is a unique feature of …
“Are we there yet?” I remember my own impatience as a child, traveling in the back seat of the car (or the back back seat of the 1976 Dodge Aspen Wagon) on family road trips, feeling such anticipation and excitement about the destination and so much frustration about the time it took to get there. …
This year, when we sit at our Seder tables sharing the story and significance of our journey from oppression in Mitzrayim (ancient Egypt) to liberation, reflecting on our individual and collective movement from constriction (maytzar) to expansiveness, it is a potent moment to weave into our discussion, ritual and actions the plight of refugees around …
Shoes on the Doorstep, Sandals on Our Feet – A Pesach Teaching Read More »
Bearing witness is a moral act. While you and I don’t have the power to hault Putin’s military aggression against Ukraine, and while I feel quite powerless as the horrific events in Ukraine unfold, we have the ability and moral responsibility to bear witness to this assault – -to bear witness Putin’s use of …
Baruch ata Adonai matir assurim – Blessed are You Adonai who frees the captives. I only heard about Saturday’s hostage standoff at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas when I turned my phone back on after Shabbat. Initially, I felt shocked and deeply worried until the hostages made it safely out of the building. It …
