ELUL THOUGHTS | 12 - 18 ELUL
09/20/2024 08:42:15 AM
September 15, 2024 | 12 Elul 5784
Rabbi Benjamin Sharff
In today’s world, where certainty and binaries reign, it is so hard to find any space for commonality or even perceiving humanity in someone else who holds a different view. If I am right, then you are wrong. And more than that, if I am right, then your worldview is fundamentally flawed and there is no hope for you.
And this is the challenge of binaries. As we learn...Read more...
ELUL THOUGHTS | 5 - 11 ELUL
09/13/2024 09:11:02 AM
September 8, 2024 | 5 Elul 5784
Rabbi Daniel Kirzane
Repentance and forgiveness form a two-way street, and during Elul, we’re encouraged to walk in both directions.
Repentance entails knowing we’ve done wrong, changing ourselves to avoid doing wrong again, trying to “make up” for what we’ve done, and reaching out to those we’ve harmed to apologize or make peace. Forgiveness entails identifying the ways in...Read more...
TEMPLE TALK | SEPTEMBER 6
09/12/2024 10:41:51 AM
What are some of the most well known and most often quoted phrases of Torah?
Whenever I ask this question, I hear what has become an infamous catchphrase, particularly within liberal Jewish circles – Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof. Justice, justice you shall pursue.
Often, we debate what this means. Why do we repeat the word tzedek, or justice, twice? Is it simply for added emphasis, or is there a deeper...Read more...
WELCOME TO Elul Thoughts 5784 | 1-4 Elul
09/06/2024 09:25:32 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 16
08/21/2024 03:26:06 PM
This week we will be reading from parashat Va’et’chanan. There is a lot going on in this Torah portion including both the restatement of the 10 Commandments as well as the text of the Shema and V’Ahavata.
We often refer to the Shema as the ‘watchword prayer of our faith.’ This is a curious phrase ‘watchword prayer of our faith.’ As Cantor David Fair argues, “We say it every morning and night and it's...Read more...