Rabbi Bonnie Koppell
“Patience is a virtue,” or, as George Eliot expressed it more poetically, “The wine and the sun will make vinegar without any shouting to help them.”[1] My children think I’m the most impatient person on the planet, but that’s only because they haven’t spent more time with my mom. My…
Erev Rosh HaShanah– Rabbi Mari Chernow S. Y. Agnon tells the story[1] of a young man who became estranged from his father, the king. The son left his father’s palace and wandered from village to village and from city to city. His clothes became tattered and torn. His face changed…
After we study a text, it is customary to say the Kaddish D’Rabbanan- the Rabbi’s or Teacher’s kaddish- probably the least known among the variations on the kaddish prayer. It is a special favorite because it combines two of Judaism’s highest values- learning and gratitude. In the Kaddish D’Rabbanan, we…
One of the more memorably ridiculous lines in literature comes from a work that was popular in my childhood- Love Story– in which the author famously wrote, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Raise your hand if you agree that you can successfully sustain long-term, loving relationships without…
Forgiveness means so many different things to each of us. However we understand forgiveness, however we approach forgiveness, it is never easy. In fact, for most of us it is the greatest spiritual struggle of our lives. Sue Monk Kidd expressed it this way- “If God said in plain language,…
strategy temple chai 1 nov[1] An analysis of how military strategic planning can be applied to the religious community.
Pinchas, the son of Elazar, was a religious zealot. The book of Numbers, chapter 25 verses 1-9, describes his act of vigilante justice, thrusting a spear through an Israelite man and a Midianite woman, thus staying the plague which had afflicted the Israelites and killed 24,000 people. Living as we…
This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the battle at Gettysburgh, PA. In the Gettysburg address, President Abraham Lincoln described the United States of America as “conceived in liberty.” Birth is a bloody and painful process under the best of circumstances, and that conception doesn’t always go according to…
Does the number 5:14 mean anything to you? That is the precise time, according to the calendar, that Shabbat candles were to have been lit tonight- at least in Mesa- I didn’t check the Temple Chai zip code. I grew up in a Conservative Jewish household. That meant that my…
War is an ugly but tragically necessary aspect of human interaction. Within the first few chapters of Genesis, we encounter war between Abraham and the 5 kings. The Torah works to militate against the dehumanizing aspects of warfare by prescribing constraints on the behavior of combatants, and creating a ritual…