The Torah as a Reflective Mirror
05/25/2023 10:37:01 AM
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner tells of the time he brought a preschool school class into the synagogue sanctuary for a tour. He showed them the bimah, the ner tamid, and then finally, the aron kodesh, the holy ark.
“What do you suppose is in there?” he asked them.
“Nothing!” one child answered, “It’s empty.”
“A new car!” another shouted.
“A Torah!” responded another.
“I know! I know”...Read more...
Building and Growing our Kehilah Kedosha, our Sacred Community
05/18/2023 02:50:12 PM
This Shabbat we begin the book of BaMidbar, Numbers. It opens with a pair of censuses, as b’nai Yisrael prepare to set out from Mount Sinai, where they are still encamped. Each tribe is counted and given its position. But the tribe of Levi, whose charge is to tend to the mishkan, tabernacle, is given additional tasks. Joseph’s son Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohat, and Merari. Each became the head of...Read more...
A Sense of Hope
05/11/2023 11:28:31 AM
This week’s double Torah portion, Behar-Behukotai, offers a sense of hope as God promises the Israelites that one day:
וְנָתַתִּ֤י שָׁלוֹם֙ בָּאָ֔רֶץ וּשְׁכַבְתֶּ֖ם וְאֵ֣ין מַחֲרִ֑יד- I will grant peace in the land (of...Read more...
Ki miTBS tayzei Torah -- a Torah comes out from TBS
05/04/2023 12:24:44 PM
Each week in this column we talk Torah, but rarely to we talk about Torahs. What I mean is talking about the actual Torah scrolls that we read from at TBS. In our Torah vault live 18 Torahs. A few of them are no longer kosher, and we use some of those for teaching. Most of them, however, we use throughout the year. We have Torah scrolls that survived the Holocaust, and scroll that we wrote as a congregation about...Read more...
Am Yisrael Hai
04/27/2023 11:04:26 AM
I had been living in Israel for nine months studying to become a rabbi. What a blessing to experience the day-to-day life and culture of our homeland, a country that can be understood as nothing less than a miracle. Day after day, I walked the streets of Jerusalem and traveled around the country, but this day was different. As the sun began to set, Becca and I gathered with hundreds of people in a room that overlooked the...Read more...
The 'New' High Holy Days of Israel
04/20/2023 10:56:54 AM
We are in the midst of what have been called the new High Holy Days of Israel. This last Tuesday we marked Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and next Tuesday and Wednesday are Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel’s Memorial Day and Independence Day. These days cause us to reflect on two of the most significant events in Jewish history. During the Holocaust one third of the world’s Jewish population was wiped...Read more...
Counting the Omer
04/14/2023 10:46:41 AM
I hope everyone had a meaningful Passover holiday and enjoyed some delicious hametz last night! With Passover now in the rearview mirror, we begin to turn out attention to the approaching holiday of Shavuot. Yet, oddly enough, despite specifying the date of every other major...Read more...
The Importance of Storytelling at Passover
03/30/2023 11:23:49 AM
The holiday of Passover has always been special to me. Not because my Hebrew name is Pesah Barukh, but rather because of the special childhood memories that I have of celebrating the holiday with my family. It is these memories and feelings of gratitude and love for family and tradition that I hope to recreate now, each year, for my children. Passover is the ultimate family holiday; a very special time of...Read more...
Vayikra
03/23/2023 10:17:03 AM
Today is Rosh Hodesh Nisan, the first day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, which means Passover is just two weeks away! It’s exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. There is a lot to do to prepare for Passover, on top of all of our other day-to-day responsibilities. Still, without that preparation, Passover wouldn’t be Passover. This preparation of course involves cleaning and cooking, but it also includes preparing for our seders....Read more...
Vayakehl-Pekudei
03/17/2023 02:33:17 PM
This morning at Kellman Brown Academy, the first grade students celebrated their Hag HaSiddur (a ceremony in which they received their first prayerbook). I watched with pride and tears of joy as my twins, Meyer and Gavi, along with their classmates, spoke in Hebrew, sang songs, danced, and led numerous tefillot (prayers). One of the songs they sang focused on verse we recite during...Read more...
Ki Tissa
03/09/2023 02:37:12 PM
Now that Purim is behind us, we turn our attention to Passover! Our liturgy helps us do this, as this Shabbat is Shabbat Parah. It is named for the parah adumah, or the red heifer, that we’ll read about in our special maftir Torah reading. Shabbat Parah always falls on the first Shabbat after Purim, and it represents the beginning of our preparation for Passover. The Talmud teaches that 30 days before Passover (right now we are only 25 days...Read more...
