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I’m not sure what the origin of April Fool’s Day is, and I AM sure that it’s NOT a Jewish holiday, but I am also sure that I am ready for some levity. We DO have a reference to fools right here in our Kabbalat Shabbat liturgy. In fact, it’s…
Creation, the beauty of the creation, is a foundation of Kabbalat Shabbat. We begin with 6 psalms, one representing each day of the week, each day of the creation of the world, culminating in Shabbat. These psalms express God’s presence in the mountains and the seas, the meadows and the…
Tonight we come together to pray for healing for our beloved community. We have been through an incredibly challenging time in the history of our congregation. We are breathing in a spirit of peace and the deepest hope that we can move forward with a spirit of unity: of caring,…
Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort. It’s an actual date ON the Jewish calendar. It occurs every summer, in the 7 weeks of comfort and consolation following Tisha B’Av. This year those 7 weeks begin on July 23, which is the OFFICIAL Shabbat Nachamu. This year I have a proposal. …
JCC Association | April 8, 2021 How hard, or easy, is it for you to say, “I was wrong, I apologize, please forgive me.” For me, and for many of us, it is impossibly challenging to get those words out of our mouths. We rationalize, we defend, we obfuscate, we…
Here are a couple of interesting numbers: 14, 981 17, 896 23, 746 Any idea what they represent? These are the number of days that each of us has been alive- Cantor Wolman, the youngest- 14,981. Rabbi Mari- 17,896, and I, who just celebrated my 65th birthday, 23, 746. By…
You may have missed a sad, recent event in the news. Overshadowed by current events, the death of Alex Trebek, long time host of “Jeopardy,” was barely noticed. No, I’m not a serious fan of the show, but I am a fan of questioning, and Alex Trebek was the man…
Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek- that’s what we’ll say at the end of this week’s parsha, and it seems to be a good prayer for the end of 2020 and the dawn of 2021- we’ve had strength to get to this point; may we have the strength to move forward. The parsha…
According to the Torah, we are just now, with this week’s parsha, entering Bamidbar/the wilderness. According to us, it feels like 40 years of wandering aimlessly, hoping to reach the promised land with no idea how to get there, when we will arrive, and how we will survive along the…
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,…