Rabbi Bonnie Koppell
Tazria, Metzora, and Social Distancing- 2020 Rabbi Bonnie Koppell An unknown illness erupts. Waiting for a diagnosis, and then, quarantine. Have the symptoms dissipated? Keep checking and continue to stay isolated from the community. Examination by a healthcare professional to determine if it’s safe to be with people. If so,…
I trust everyone had a good Pesach and our Torah reading this week, Shemini, finds us exactly half-way through the Torah. It is AMAZING that the rabbis so loved the text that they counted every letter, determining that the letter vav in the word “gachon,” appearing this week, is the…
March 26th will be the first day of the month of Nisan, the month in which Passover occurs. That means that next Shabbat, March 21, is Shabbat Mevarchim, the Shabbat on which we will officially announce and pray for the new month. Reverse engineering, that makes this week Shabbat Parah-…
I remember a few years ago- I was standing in the lobby, having just returned from a period of military service. I think I might have even been in uniform. I was definitely still in Army/Colonel mode. I sort of barked at one of my colleagues in a way that…
Did you know that the word Elohim, God, and the word ha-tevah, nature, have the same numerical value in Hebrew? While Jews are not pantheistic, that is, we don’t believe that nature IS God, we certainly sense the deep and intimate connection between the Creator and the creation. Rabbi Joseph…
Talk delivered at Community Church of the Verdes, 27 January, 2020, Rabbi Bonnie Koppell Well, it is a daunting task that you have set for me. “Judaism.” Not- Jewish Ethics, the Jewish Lifecycle, Jewish Holidays, Jewish Texts, Jewish History- all of it! Five thousand years in 45 minutes. The story…
A couple of weeks ago, Ron and I were pondering a challenging situation, and he said something that I can’t stop thinking about. His comment was- “I don’t need to be right, I just want to be happy.” Personally, I so resist this wise perspective. I DO need to be…
Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving, the quintessential American holiday focused on gratitude and based on the Biblical holiday of Sukkot. What destroys gratitude more than anything else? Envy. There’s a good reason that the 10 commandments prohibit coveting, that is, desiring, that which belongs to others. It destroys our souls and…
SAM AND DEDE/LAURAL AND ARNIE This is the story of Laural and Arnie Sigal and Dede and Sam Harris- how they became friends, how that friendship grew, and how we can all be inspired by their story. Making guests feel welcome is a fundamental Jewish value. In Hebrew we call…
Rosh HaShanah- what a gift! What a luxury! What a joy! Looking around this room, we are each so grateful for the blessing of our physical well-being that enables us to be here, and for the blessing of community- sharing the start of this holy season with friends and…