Tag: Elul
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It’s Elul: You Have Permission to Change
This weekend we begin the Jewish month of Elul and officially begin the High Holiday season. The holidays themselves are “late” this year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar (they, of course, fall the same time each year on the Hebrew calendar), but no matter when they fall, we get a month warning with the…
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“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…
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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
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“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…
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Pass the Ice Water, It’s Elul
If you are tied into social media, you are probably aware of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It is a viral phenomenon in which people challenge each other to dump a bucket of ice water on their head, in the name of raising awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the fatal degenerative disorder more commonly…
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The Amalek in Us
In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Teitzei, we are given a long list of commandments, many dealing with issues of economic justice and ethical behavior. The portion ends with the vehement exhortation about Amalek: “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt–how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on…
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Parking Outside the Lines
File this one under: Really?! Yesterday when stopping for coffee on the way to the synagogue after dropping Erez at camp I encountered the following car parked on Capitol Way. If you know me, or at least remember my Rosh Hashanah sermon last year, this type of parking job really gets under my skin. In…
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Soul Kashering
I know we are coming up on the month of Elul and the High Holidays, but I wanted to turn my attention to Passover for a minute. Passover is a holiday which traditionally requires a fair amount of preparation. The practice over the holiday is not to eat any hametz(leavened products like bread, pasta and so…
Rabbi 360 