Who We Are
I want to start by sharing the remarks I shared at this past week’s Open House Shabbat, where our building welcomed hundreds of people over the course of Friday night and Saturday morning. It was truly an inspiring return to our weekly rhythms of Friday night musical services and teachings, Saturday morning services and Torah […]
Bearing Witness to Heartbreak — Reflections on the War’s Toll
This has been a brutal week for the Jewish people. Six hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Almog Sarusi, and Alexander Lobanov, individuals whom we had gotten to know through accounts by their loved ones, were murdered by Hamas in the tunnels of Gaza, executed just hours before they could be saved by […]
Balancing Humility and Responsibility
In this past week’s Torah portion, Moses relates the experience of the 40-year journey the Israelites have made to the generation of Israelites who stand on the brink of the Promised Land. They are getting ready to enter it without Moses, who will no longer be by their side. It comes in Sefer Devarim, the […]
Chosenness, Conflict, and a Path Forward
This past Shabbat we began the final book of the Torah, Sefer Devarim, the Book of Deuteronomy. The word “Deuteronomy” comes from a Greek translation of the phrase “Repetition of the Torah”, which is in a sense a fitting name for this final Book, because it largely consists of Moses, on the brink of the promised […]
Journeys of the Past and Present — Insights from Parashat Masei
This past Shabbat we studied Parashat Masei, which means something like “travels” or “stages”. It is the last portion in the Sefer Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers, the fourth of five books of the Torah. In it, the “travels” being referred to comprise a deliberate and thorough recounting of all of the geographical stages the […]