Parashat Shemot

By Hazzan Marcia Lane

In 2007 the Jewish world lost a giant by the name of Alfred J. Kolatch. He was a rabbi, but didn’t always use his title. He was also the author of more than 25 books, including The Jewish Book of Why and The Jewish Child’s First Book of Why, but for many of us he is best known and loved for having written The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names. It was first published as The Name Dictionary in 1967, revised in 1984, and is so universally respected that it has a place on virtually every rabbi’s, cantor’s, Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-12-23T14:47:38-05:00December 23, 2010|

Parashat Vayehi

By Simcha Raphael

WithÂ Parashat Vayehi, the Book of Genesis reaches its grand finale. Jacob and his extended family are gathered in the land of Egypt, and first, the illustrious Patriarch himself dies; then, subsequently the complex,Â distinguishedÂ life of Joseph comes to an end.

What do we learn from these concluding chapters of Genesis that can offer us a relevant model for dealing more openly with dying, death and grief in our families and communities? Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-12-15T00:13:44-05:00December 15, 2010|

Parashat Vayigash

The Healing Power of Tears

By Rabbi Ziona Zelazo

CharlesÂ Dickens, in his comedy bookÂ Great Expectations wrote:Â “Heaven knows, we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.”Â I take crying as a given fact in my life as I cry for joy, for pain and out of fear.Â IÂ was taught that it is acceptable to cry if you are a little girl or even a mature woman.Â Unfortunately, some people, especially men, are often ashamed or afraid to cry because of the Western cultural norm which perceives crying as a sign of weakness. Boys are told, “Big boys don’t cry,” or, “Crying is for girls.” However, psychologists today reassure us that for both men and women, tears are a sign of courage, strength, and authenticity. Tears are the body’s release valve for stress sadness, grief, anxiety, and frustration.

It was no surprise, as I read last Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-12-10T00:17:59-05:00December 10, 2010|

Parashat Vayishlah

By Rabbi Bob Freedman

At the end of this week’s parashah, Vayishlah, we learn that Jacob came back to his home, the land where his fathers had lived (Genesis 31:3). Specifically, he returned to Beit-El, the place where he first encountered God, the birthplace of his spiritual existence. What else is “home” but our spiritual center? We may bathe, sleep, and eat in a house to which we acquire the right of possession, but our home is the place from which flows the source of our connection and wholeness.

Each of us finds our “home” in our own way. The three patriarchs, whose paths to being paradigmatic humans were very different, are our examples. Abraham found his home by going out from his origins to a brand new place. God gave Isaac the divine blessing when he re-opened the wells that his father had dug, metaphorically reclaiming wisdom and nurture that had been lost Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-11-22T12:49:11-05:00November 22, 2010|

Parashat VaYetzei

By Sanford OlshanskyÂ

For over a year I’ve played “Stump the Rabbi” with the Hebrew School students at the temple where I work. On some of my classroom visits they have an opportunity to ask me the toughest Jewish questions they can think of. Students who ask me a question that I can’t answer get a prize. Most questions lead to meaningful discussions. One of the best this year was “Why doesn’t God show God’s self to us?” I gave the students a number of answers, suggesting that two questions behind this question might be “How do we know that God really exists?” and, if God exists, “Where can we find God?”

The beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Vayeitzei talks about how our ancestor Jacob, from whom we get the name Israel, found God. Many people today doubt the existence Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-11-11T18:11:48-05:00November 11, 2010|

Parashat Toldot

By Rabbi Isaac Mann

Of the three Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov, we know the least about Yitzhak (Isaac), around whom this week s Torah portion is centered. Unlike his father or his son, the Torah tells us precious little about Yitzhak s life or his encounters with others. Even where we have a somewhat lengthy story regarding Yitzhak s blessings of his sons, Yaakov and Eisav (Esau), the emphasis seems to be more on Yaakov and the manner in which he received the blessing than it is on his father Yitzhak.

Despite the dearth of incidents to work with, one thing is clear from what the Torah does tell us of Yitzhak, and that is that he had a communication problem. Whatever the reason may be, Yitzhak did not do a great job communicating with his family or with those around him. Regarding the latter, we only have Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2010-11-04T11:57:27-04:00November 4, 2010|

Parashat Lekh Lekha

By Rabbi Alan Abraham Kay

On Wednesday, June 23^rd, two days before my final service as rabbi of Temple Beth Emeth of Mount Sinai, I was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer. As my primary care physician gave me the news, I held my telephone in my left hand and ran the fingers of my right hand fiercely through my hair and asked myself, “What do I do now?” I had a choice. I could collapse in fear and shake with anger and crawl into a dark hole. But I chose instead to answer myself with, “Go forward.” I could not return to the life I led before my doctor’s call; I could only go forward to the life that lay ahead. I knew I would not go forward alone. I would have my wife and daughters and their families, my Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-10-13T18:46:05-04:00October 13, 2010|

Parashat Noah

In this week’s Torah portion, God, having concluded that Humanity 1.0 has not worked out at all, decides to start over again. God chooses the most righteous man, Noah. Our rabbis disagree on whether Noah was not particularly righteous, just more so than everyone else at the time, or whether Noah would have been considered righteous no matter what his generation. Either way, Noah and his family are chosen to be the humans that will repopulate the world. God causes there to be a great flood that covers the whole world, killing every human and animal that lives on land, so that only Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark with them survive.

Upon emerging from the ark, Noah builds an altar and makes an offering to God.Â God “inhale[s] the soothing fragrance” (Gen. 8:21, translation from Read More >

By Rabbi Heidi Hoover|2010-10-07T16:26:13-04:00October 7, 2010|

Parashat Bereshit

SevenÂ Principles of a BiblicalÂ Environmental Ethic

While many people delight in the high drama of the first stories of the Bible in this weeks’ parashah, we can also derive a profound and far-reachingÂ environmental ethic from these stories – and in particular from Genesis 1.Â Outlined below are 7 principles of an environmental ethic found embedded in our first creation story.

1. Integrity of all living things

Everything that is created-light; the sky and water; earth, grasses and fruit trees; sun and stars; days and years; fish, sea monsters and birds; crawly creatures, wild animals and men and women-is called “good.” Each has integrity and value by virtue of its very existence, and each owes its existence to God.Â We human beings are not called to assign value to the creatures-this is God’s job, and herein lies the sacred value of Read More >

By ahsilver|2010-09-28T19:03:33-04:00September 28, 2010|

Simhat Torah: The Rebirth of the Word

As we approach Simhat Torah and prepare to read of the death of Moses and the creation of the world, I always find myself experiencing a feeling of anticipation and even exhilaration, as if something extraordinary were about to happen.Â In one sense, all the prayers, introspection and celebration we have done all autumn have led us to this moment: the moment when we leap from the end of the end-the conclusion of Moses’ journey and the final words of the Torah-to the beginning of the beginning, when the world is born and the divine creative process unfolds before our eyes.Â Only the intense spiritual past-future scrubbing of the High Holidays, and the powerful ritual circles of Sukkot, can bring us to this moment which is both line and circle: the ongoing interpretation of the Torah across history, the eternal Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2010-09-28T19:00:53-04:00September 28, 2010|

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

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