Holidays

A year ago when we celebrated Pesach, I don’t think we realized that we were actually ENTERING Egypt, Mitzrayim, the narrow place, the place of confinement.   A year later, we read the Haggadah [...]

It’s a 3-Day Purim! Rabbi Bonnie Koppell It’s still Purim!  Shushan Purim is a thing every year.  Even in the time of Mordecai and Esther, Purim was celebrated on a different day in Shushan [...]

Esther, Vashti, and Women Leaders Rabbi Bonnie Koppell   We can still talk about Purim, right?  Purim may have officially  ended when we lit candles and entered into Shabbat.  However, in [...]

Judaism and Christianity:  A Rabbi’s Christmas Sermon Rabbi Bonnie Koppell Temple Chai- Phoenix, Arizona Dec. 25, 2020   It’s impossible to ignore today’s date.  December 25th.  As a [...]

National Day of Listening- Rabbi Bonnie Koppell Did you know that today is a holiday?  And I don’t mean “Black Friday?”  I only recently learned that StoryCorps has informally designated today, [...]

        A member of our community recently shared with me his frustration that he had apologized to someone, “I’m sorry, please forgive me,” and he sensed that [...]

This I Believe- Rabbi Bonnie Koppell         A few lyrics- “I believe the children are our future.”  So sings Whitney Houston, and I am inclined to [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]