Holidays

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 [...]

The book of Jonah, which we read on Yom Kippur, ends on an absurd note. Jonah storms out of the city to sulk. He had been sent to call the people to repent, and they did. God had compassion on [...]

         Spring cleaning has always been a Jewish thing.  Except we call it Passover cleaning.  It’s a good thing, at least occasionally, to take [...]

This year at Purim, one verse of the Megillah especially resonated with me. In Chapter Three, Verse 8, Haman seeks permission from Achashverosh to destroy the Jewish people, denouncing us with [...]