Land management and economic justice are subjects of this week's Torah portion Behar. We are first told that after six years of being cultivated, land is to rest and lie fallow during the seventh year in order to be renewed; this is the practice known as shmita. And then we are to count seven seven-year …
I was honored to speak at a gathering and demonstration to pressure Washington State leadership to remove the dams on the lower Snake River, thus freeing salmon runs and promoting a better relationship with our land. These are the words I shared. Shabbat Shalom. Thank you, it is an honor to be here today to …
I delivered this d'var Torah at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Reconstrucionist Rabbinical Association on March 6, 2022. Thank you for this opportunity and this honor, and so good to be with colleagues today. We have just passed Rosh Chodesh Adar 2, since this year being a leap year in which we add an …
Continue reading From Purim to Passover: “Juxtaposing Redemptions is Preferred”
As we come upon the two year anniversary of the Covid pandemic, I am, for the first time, by desire and necessity, taking a step back from my work at my congregation. Suffice it to say, I know that we are all hurting from this time. It has not been easy. And I do not …
https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbi_360/video/7054673141796228357?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id6959586378247194117 On my first day back at the syangogue after Colleyville, I (what else) made a TikTok video. Here it is, with a transcript: Hi friends. So it’s my first day back in the synagogue after the events at Congregation Beth Israel in Texas and I just wanted to come up to the sanctuary and …
I wrote the first part of this prayer on Saturday as the events at Congregational Beth Israel in Colleyville were still playing out, and I shared it on TikTok, Facebook and at a congregational gathering that evening. I returned to it after and worked on it a little more, and offer it as a general …
In Jewish tradition we are taught that there are four "new years." Two are familiar to us: Rosh Hashana, our calendar new year and a time of introspection and atonement, and Tu Bishvat, the new year of the trees, which we now observe as a celebration of our environment. The Talmud also teaches that there …
There is a custom that, upon finishing a book of the Torah as part of the weekly reading cycle, the community says "hazak, hazak, ve'nithazek!" "Be strong, be strong, may we all be strengthened!" We have the opportunity to practice this this Shabbat, as we finish reading the Book of Genesis. In this week's Torah …
Jacob in our Torah is known for his spiritual experiences. Earlier in his life, we are told, he had a vision of angels ascending and descending a ladder, and receives a blessing from God. In this week's Torah portion, we find him wrestling with an angel, leaving that encounter with a limp, a new name, …
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