This coming week is a momentous one for many of us.  In addition to the coming holidays of Chanukah and Christmas, this week takes on even more meaning.  Some of us have been looking forward to this weekend with joy and trepidation for years if not decades.  Because this weekend is the culmination of decades… Read more »

I am very grateful to Chaplain Adam Siegel and Kathryn Vischjager for their attendance at the Hillel Conference this week.  They met with Hillel professionals from all over and promoted and represented our Elaine Breslow Institute and Beit T’Shuvah.  They did a wonderful job, and I have received rave reviews!  I also am grateful to… Read more »

What does it mean to know God?  More importantly, what does it take to form a relationship with God? Perhaps we are surprised and experience a God moment – in nature, in the moment, or in an awakening. Perhaps whenever two people come together, God is there in the conversation.   A more important question… Read more »

Happy Thanksgiving! I am incredibly thankful to be a member of this wonderful community.  I am particularly grateful that my job is to help others take another step along their spiritual journey; and as a result, I get to witness miracles of transformation. What happens when we get the thing we think will bring us… Read more »

Chayei Sarah 5780 Abraham is a person of faith and hesed, kindness.  He faithfully follows God out of the world he knows.  In his most physically painful moment after circumcision, he welcomes guests into his home.  He argues/negotiates/counsels with God for the sake of the righteous people of Sodom and Gomorrah.  He creates a small… Read more »

Vayeira 5780 This week’s Parashah is Vayeira. This translates to ‘appeared’. God appears to Abraham in this Parashah many times. At the beginning, God (Adonai) appears as a visitor to the recovering Abraham (from his circumcision). This is where we get the idea of visiting the sick, Bikur Cholim. We visit people who are sick… Read more »

Lech Lecha 5780 When I was in middle school I remember this television show that I used to watch. The first episode of the show opened with a scene that was supposed to be heaven.  There was Saint Peter who was shepherding the people as they came in, trying to help them figure out if… Read more »

Noah 5780 As wildfires erupted this week across our city and state, we were forced to encounter the sheer power of this destructive phenomenon.  Our tradition, like many others, has a deep and multi-faceted relationship to fire.  This ranges from its use in weekly ritual (lighting the Shabbat and havdalah candles) to its metaphorical significance… Read more »

Parashat Bereishit “Why didn’t you tell me we were out of milk?” I ask my daughter.  “Why didn’t you wash your dirty dishes?” I ask my husband.  In each case I make the mistake of asking, “Why?” Especially when it is essentially rhetorical, “Why” is a pointless and counterproductive question.  It can (thinly) veil an… Read more »

From Yom Kippur to Sukkot: The Joy of Living One of my favorite images of Yom Kippur is the beginning of Kol Nidre.  All the Torah scrolls are removed from the ark – which is left empty – and the entire community, dressed in white garb, gather together to begin a 25-hour ritual of fasting… Read more »

Parshat Ha’azinu Just as we reached unetaneh tokef on Yom Kippur – that prayer in which calls out desperately “who will live and who will die”- Rabbi Mark received a text from his brother that his niece and nephew had been in that synagogue in Halle, Germany.  Some had known about the attack, and some… Read more »

Parshat Vayeilekh According Rabbi Eliezer, in Tractate Shabbat 153a of the Babylonian Talmud, we are obligated to engage in t’shuvah all the days of our lives.  I am proud to be part of a community that demonstrates this commitment to chesbon ha’nefesh (accounting of the soul) on an on-going basis. This Shabbat, which falls between Rosh… Read more »

Parshat Nitzavim “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  This quote seems incredibly appropriate this week as, together, we approach the High Holy Days.  As a rabbi, it’s always a hectic time for me.  As some people say, it’s the clergy’s “tax season,” a reference to that time in late March and… Read more »

Parshat Ki Tavo I am so grateful to Pastor John Pavlovitz for his uplifting and amazing presence last weekend. From Shabbat Services through Sunday evening, John taught, loved and lived his “Bigger Table” life. We are so Blessed to have him as a friend, teacher and guide. This week’s Torah Portion is Ki Tavo.  The… Read more »

Parshat Ki Teste The bulk of the Parashat Ki Tetse is a diverse array of social, legal, ethical, and ritual laws.  Maimonides contends that 72 of the 613 mitzvot come from this parashah.  For example: not to plow a field with an ox and ass in harness together, not to weave linen and wool together,… Read more »

Parshat Shoftim There is a story told about Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev (1740-1809), a great hassidic master who was nicknamed the “defense attorney,” because he argued with God on behalf of the Jewish people.  On one Rosh Hodesh (the first of the month) of Elul he was gazing out a window when a shoe… Read more »

Parshat Re’eh This week’s parashah opens with some of the most poignant statements in the Torah.  We find Moses, in the final days of his life, exhorting the Israelites to drop their relentless obstinacy and to recognize a reality filled with both blessings and curses. See, I am placing before you this day a blessing… Read more »

Parshat Eikev Is Saying Thank You Nature or Nurture Early in my marriage my husband complained that I never said “Thank you.”  I denied the accusation — there was no way that I was that rude person who was so cavalier that I ignored people’s kindness to me.  Of course I said thank you!  But… Read more »

Parshat Ve’ethanan  Two weeks ago, I danced with compassion. It was a sacred sort of dance – an exercise in calling forth a part of myself sometimes hidden behind a history of fear. There were 14 other people in the room all waltzing, tangoing, salsaing – awkwardly – all to get in touch with parts… Read more »

This week’s Parashah is D’Varim. This translates to things/words. It is the opening chapters of the 5th Book of the Torah, Deuteronomy, aka 2nd law, because we get a recap of the laws and stories of the Israelites journey from Egypt and many new laws as well. I often call this, Moses’ Ethical Will to… Read more »

You know, there are moments when you read the weekly parsha and everything clicks.  You open the Torah, and the ancient wisdom and knowledge smack you right in the face with their eloquence and brilliance.  Then there are weeks like this. In this week’s parsha we read that a woman can take an oath upon… Read more »

In one of the trippiest moments in all of Torah, Balaam’s donkey opens its mouth and speaks.  And not only does it speak, it speaks more soundly than its holy-man rider.  It’s Shrek meets wisdom literature. Balaam, the holy-man, is traveling to visit Balak, the Moabite king, who wants Balaam to curse the Israelites, whom… Read more »

In reading through this week’s parashah, we’re repeatedly forced to encounter the truth that being human means constantly surrendering to the many “unexplainable” aspects of our lives.  This parashah is so rich precisely because the willingness to surrender to this truth is not something that comes easily to many of us. The text starts off… Read more »

In this week’s portion we read about the rebellion of Korach and his followers.  If we look at the text, we might see Korach as a sympathetic character.  He says to Moshe, “For all the community are holy…Why then do you raise yourself above the Lord’s congregation?”  At first glance it looks like Korach is… Read more »

You could not pick a better parashah for me to write for my final Schmata!  For it is in this week’s parashah, Shalach Lecha, that we learn about the infamous spy story.  We see the twelve of them go to scout the land of Canaan on Moses’ command, and ten of them return and report… Read more »

What do you do with a bunch of whiny complainers!  Complaint after complaint: The food is bad; the air conditioning is not cold enough; the air conditioning is too cold; my roommate is a slob; my roommate snores; the program is boring; I’m bored.  It never ends.  And it’s so tedious. Perhaps this is the… Read more »