Rabbi's Corner

It is hard to believe, but in exactly a week from now, we will be gathering together in our sanctuary to celebrate Rosh Hashanah as a community. As part of my own personal spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days, every year I read This Is Real and You Are...

Originally published September 19, 2024 Author Anne Lamott writes that human prayer, regardless of faith, can be distilled into three categories: help, thanks, and WOW. This schema maps out onto Jewish prayer, both the words of our prayerbook and the words of our...

Originally published September 5, 2024 Every so often, our Jewish calendar and our secular calendar align in harmonious ways. Earlier this week, we marked Rosh Hodesh Elul, the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul, on Tuesday and Wednesday. Rosh Hodesh Elul...

Originally published August 29, 2024 Over the past few months, I've had conversations with many of you about how to best support Israel at this time. Like most questions brought to rabbis, this one has multiple right answers. Some support Israel by making aliyah,...

Originally published August 15, 2024 On Tuesday, Jewish communities around the globe commemorated the solemn day of Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av. Most years, this day is about remembering the atrocities borne by our people in the past. We read kinot, elegiac poems...

Sometimes, living on "Jewish time" can feel discordant with the world around us. Sure, when Rosh Hashanah aligns with the start of the school year, or when we cut through the darkness of December with the lights of Chanukah, our Jewish holidays and their themes can...

Originally published August 1, 2024 The 14 summers I spent at Jewish summer camp were a core part of my childhood and the formation of my Jewish identity. At the URJ's Eisner Camp in Massachusetts, I met Israeli counselors and campers and learned what it meant to be a...

Originally published July 25, 2024 I am not a huge sports fan, but I LOVE the Olympics. The pageantry, the drama, the personal stories - I eat it all up. This week, as the 2024 Summer Olympics open in Paris, my attention is especially drawn to Israel’s Olympic Team,...

Originally published July 18, 2024 Most days, it can seem like the ties holding the Jewish people together are weak and fraying. Whether we are divided by debates that get at the core of our understanding of what it means to be a Jewish community - whose Jewish status...

Originally published July 11, 2024 Water is a powerful symbol that transcends religions and cultures. In Judaism, we often refer to mayyim hayyim, the living waters that make up the mikveh. As a people whose origins are in the desert, we are acutely attuned to the...