Category: Uncategorized
-
Here We Are Again, For the Very First Time
This was one of my favorite phrases to come out of my recent 18-month program on mindfulness and embodied spirituality for Jewish clergy, run by the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. One of my teachers, Rabbi Jonathan Slater, spoke them as we came to one of our last mediation sessions of the program. I echoed these…
-
Yom Kippur Day 5776: “Jews and Race, in Olympia and Beyond”
My friends, we need to talk about race. Three months ago, two African American men were shot by a white police officer here in Olympia. The men were caught trying to shoplift beer at the westside Safeway and, after fleeing, were confronted by a member of the Olympia police. Some form of altercation happened, and the two…
-
Kol Nidre 5776: “What is Your Purpose? The Time is Now.”
If not now, tell me when If not now, tell me when, We may never see this moment Or place in time again If not now, if not now, tell me when. I don’t know if I am much into signs. I understand the concept of synchronicity—how the proximity of certain events in time can…
-
Rosh Hashanah Day 5776: “Heeding the Call–Both Papal and Jewish–For Environmental Justice”
This summer, I had the opportunity to head off to Camp Kalsman, a Jewish camp in Arlington, to spend a week as a member of the faculty. A rotating group of educators and rabbis and cantors spends a week to 10 days teaching, leading services, tutoring b’nai mitzvah and providing support alongside the full-time staff.…
-
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5776: “The 8 Things I Have Learned about Life and Teshuvah from the Seattle Seahawks”
There are many things that come with growing older. As I completed my 42nd year this past July, I continue to note the changes that occur as we get older. Our bodies don’t bounce back like they used to, our hairlines don’t bounce back like they used to. One thing I have noticed, though, is…
-
It’s Rosh Hashanah. Don’t Drop the Ball.
The New Year is upon us. Tonight at sundown we will welcome in 5776. As a child celebrating the secular new year, it would become an annual challenge to stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop from Times Square in New York City. I would get anxious and excited waiting for that fateful…
-
“What Do You Have to Declare?”
Anyone who has gone through customs coming from an international trip has had to respond to the following question, “What do you have to declare?” Our government levies taxes and tariffs on particular goods, and tries to keep certain goods out of the country, so the question is meant to elicit an honest response on…
-
The Elul of Victory and Defeat
My turn again at the Rabbis Without Borders blog on My Jewish Learning. You can watch the video, then read my take on The Elul of Victory and Defeat
-
“Welcome Home” to Elul: A View from Camp
I’m spending this week at Jewish summer camp. I have returned this year to URJ Camp Kalsman in Arlington, WA to serve a week as faculty–a week filled with leading services, teaching and engaging with kids during activities. Camp Kalsman is one of the two main summer camps that kids from my congregation attend–Camp Solomon…
Rabbi 360 