ELUL THOUGHTS | WELCOME & 1-2 ELUL
08/18/2023 09:02:41 AM
The Hebrew month of Elul is the last month of the Jewish year. As such, it is considered a month of spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days. Special meditations are added to the daily service for some, known as S’lichot, or penitential prayers. (*The Saturday before Rosh Hashanah is also known as S’lichot, and it is used as a night of contemplation and study.) For several years, a group of Reform clergy and educators has collaborated...Read more...
TEMPLE TALK | AUGUST 11
08/17/2023 09:28:27 AM
The closing remarks from Rabbi Sharff's Sermon on August 11, 2023:
"Every day, we are faced with countless choices. What to eat. What to wear. What show to watch. Paper or plastic. Royals, Cardinals or Cubs?. And there are nearly as many was to “do” Judaism. And like these other choices, how we choose to express our Judaism becomes a reflection of ourselves and our community. The choices are not always easy,...Read more...
TEMPLE TALK | AUGUST 4
08/10/2023 03:36:55 PM
During Shabbat Shira on August 4, 2023., Senior Rabbi Benjamin Sharff told the following story:
The Broken Bucket
Rabbi Jason Rosenberg
Our story begins with a woman. An old woman. Very old. This woman had built herself a house, in the middle of nowhere, on the top of a hill. She had lived there for a long time — for as long as anyone could remember. It seemed like she had lived up there...Read more...
TEMPLE TALK | JULY 28
08/02/2023 09:01:04 AM
Excerpts from Rabbi Berezin's sermon from July 28, 2023, titled "A Dark Day in Israel":
" A dark day for Israeli democracy indeed. On Monday night, I found myself doomscrolling through the newspaper articles – one after another, sinking into a pit of despair. It almost felt as though Tisha b’Av had come early, as we collectively cried out to God, eicha, “how could this be?”
And so I welcomed Tisha...Read more...
TEMPLE TALK | JULY 21
07/26/2023 10:23:00 AM
A study from the Maryland School of Medicine reports that humor can be an essential part of a healthy lifestyle by suggesting that laughter may in fact go as far as helping to prevent heart disease. This study, done under the guidance of Dr. Michael Miller, found that mental stress “is associated with impairment of the endothelium, the protective barrier lining our blood vessels.” Conversely, as a reliever of...Read more...