Rabbi's Corner

My heart breaks a little every time I open the news and hear of yet another antisemitic attack, hitting a loved one’s community, often only one to two degrees of separation away. Life as a Diaspora Jew can feel increasingly fraught, even with the sound and reliable...

In just a few days, the Jewish community will celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, which marks the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. This is a formative event for the Jewish people, for our relationship with God and our relationship with each other as a cohesive unit...

Earlier this week, as Israel marked Yom HaZikaron, Israeli Memorial Day, one of our Israeli Reform synagogues, Beit Samueli in Ra'anana was violently attacked. The congregation had hosted a screening of the Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Ceremony, the ceremony...

I was surprised to open up my local paper yesterday and find the headline "New report says 70% of Holocaust survivors will be gone in next 10 years." It was not the data and the sobering reality presented in the article that surprised me, but its inclusion in the...

Check out this podcast featuring Rabbi Miriam, speaking about creating spaces of belonging. Click the link to listen - Just For This - or download it wherever you listen to podcasts.

I grew up with boisterous seder tables, filled with family, friends, and guests. My siblings' and cousins' new partners were always warmly welcomed around our table, regardless of their religious background. Beyond my circle of family, in my own corner of the Jewish...

Despite the snowy weather, חג האביב (Chag Ha-Aviv), the Spring Holiday - one of the many names for Passover - is fast approaching. Maybe this email is the wake-up call you needed to sort out your Pesach plans (in which case, don't miss the Temple Shalom community...

If you emailed me this week, you (hopefully!) received my autoreply that I was attending the CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis) Convention, an opportunity to spend several days reconnecting with colleagues, doing deep textual learning, participating in...

Tonight and over the next few days, we join with Jewish communities around the world celebrating Purim - the classic example of "they tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat." This humorous summary of Jewish history is a useful shorthand for the pain and suffering...

This past Shabbat, a group of Temple Shalom members joined me for a deep dive into the "why's" and "how's" of wearing a tallit, the prayer shawl traditionally worn by adult Jews at morning services. If you've never tried this mitzvah (sacred obligation) and want to...