As we enter the week of our family Thanksgiving rituals, we step into this week with all of ourselves. We hold all of our American identity and our Jewish identity and all of the ways that we identify ourselves. Identity can both entrap us and set us free. The process of identifying ourselves and where we align and identify with…
This Shabbat, we read the Torah portion entitled Chayei Sarah ~ Sarah’s life, though it begins with her death. Torah tells us that Sarah was 127 when she died, however given the length of biblical lives in Genesis (B’reishit), her age is unremarkable. The proximity of her death to the story of the binding of Isaac is read by our…
In a beginning … בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים … B’reishit Bara Elohim … “B’reishit bara Elohim … When God began to create …” This Shabbat, around the world, Jews in synagogues, in homes, online, in bomb shelters, barracks and tents, will read from the opening chapters of Torah. We will also sit with the grief and existential angst that shattered our…
A blog post for the days between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur
Each year we have the opportunity to count the Omer ~ a counting of the span of time ~ seven weeks of seven days + One ~ from the second day of Passover (a holiday of redemption in the words of early rabbinic sages) to Shavuot (a holiday the early rabbis connected with revelation; in diaspora, we no longer brought…
The relationships that I am invited into with my b’nei mitzvah students makes my heart soar. Their curiosity, creativity, different learning styles, and Jewish pride add a layer of deep meaning to my life as an adult, parent, and steward of our North American Jewish future, let alone my role as their rabbi. I am honored to still be in…