Category: Rabbinic Thoughts
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Lech Lecha: Hear the call
Chaverim—Friends,Our Torah Portion for this coming Shabbat is Lech Lecha. In Lech L’cha, our story focuses on our ancestor Avram. He was a wanderer who heard a divine call and went forth. God’s call to Abraham was a call to leave a position of warmth, of security and the “same good old” in order toencounter…
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Parashat Noach: Be a hero
Chaverim—Friends,No doubt about it—Noah was a good person. In fact, the Torah tells us that he was the most righteous person in his generation. But, perhaps that’s like praising someone for being the best player on a losing team! Let’s look more closely at Noah.Noah saved his family and the animals. This is all good.…
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Bereshit: Are we really done, back to “normal”?
Chaverim—Friends,Done! The High Holy Day season is over. The past weeks were exciting and exhausting, we were taken to spiritual highs and grounded again, we shared joy and we gave comfort to another when sadness overcame us. We (I) were nervous about new things, such as the new prayer books, and we felt safe in…
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Yom Kippur isn’t an easy day
Chaverim—Friends, Yom Kippur isn’t an easy day. Not because of the fasting. What isn’t easy is the affliction of the soul, the practice of going deeply into ourselves and revealing our innermost fears, doubts and insecurities in front of the Eternal. There is no more bargaining time left. No more time to negotiate with God, to…
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Awesome moments between past, present and future – Greetings for the New Year 5779
Dear congregants, members, supporters, friends—chaverim,This will be my 5th High Holy Days with you, or to be more precise, my 6th, as Chayim and I joined the congregation exactly 10 years ago for my rabbinic internship at Bet David. Much has changed in the past years, but also many things have remained untouched and sacred, as…
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Why is it time for a new Machzor?
– by Rabbi Greg AlexanderWe are very blessed to begin 5779 with a brand new machzor, Mishkan HaNefesh, the Sanctuary of the Soul, a partner to our already beloved new siddur Mishkan T’filah. But why change? After all, our previous machzor, the Gates of Repentance, has served us well. When it was edited in 1978,…
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Yizkor: Let my cry come before You.
As a deer yearns for streams of water, so I yearn for You, O God. My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God. Psalm 42:2 Hear my prayer. Let my cry come before You. Do not hide from me in my time of sorrow. Turn Your ear to me. When I cry, answer…
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Beloved Friend
BELOVED FRIEND who calls us to conscience, reminds us of our own strength, invites us to grow, empowers us to act. Cosmic mysteries are Yours, but the earth is ours to tend and heal as best we can. Beloved Partner in creation, …
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Take us back
Chaverim,Repentance is acceptable, the Rabbis teach, at any time, but the special time for repentance is the season from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, the Ten Days of Penitence, our High Holy Days. In all the rabbinic sources, repentance involves two things: remorse at having sinned and confession of the sin. The numerous rabbinic statements…
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Elul—a Month of spiritual preparation
by Rabbi Robert A. Jacobs The sixth Hebrew month, Elul, begins this coming Shabbat as the last month of 5778, a little anomaly resulting from the setting of the first day of the seventh month, Tishrei, as Rosh Hashanah. If we follow the Midrashic calendar, then the designation of Rosh Chodesh Elul as initiating a…
