Dear Friends, This Shabbat we will say a special prayer for the upcoming new Jewish month of Shevat! Rosh Chodesh Shevat will be on Sunday night and Monday of this coming week. May it be a month of blessing, of healing, of health, and of joy. We are also welcoming the start of 2022. This Continue Reading »
Dear Friends, One of the most beautiful things about being part of a kehilla kedosha – a sacred congregation – is the fact that most of us know the names of most of our fellow congregants! It is a blessing for us to be known by our names. I mention this today because I recently Continue Reading »
Dear Friends, It is our custom to bless our children on Friday nights and, as part of that blessing, we use the words that our Patriarch, Jacob, used in blessing Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Menashe. These words appear in our Torah portion of Vayechi (Genesis 48:20). Then, we add the three-fold blessing: May God bless Continue Reading »
Dear Friends, This Shabbat we celebrate Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and Chanukah! Lots of joy and lots of hope! And, we will enjoy the first of a three part presentation on Jewish Ethics by our own Rabbi Professor Dr. Richard Freund! I hope you won’t miss this wonderful opportunity whether you are able to join us Continue Reading »
Hopefully, you have enjoyed Thanksgiving and will continue having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend as well. This Shabbat we will recite the blessing for the new upcoming Jewish month of Tevet. Rosh Chodesh Tevet will be a week from now, on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday and, in anticipation of the new month of Tevet, we Continue Reading »
Dear Friends, Why, of course, I tell the truth! But, then again, maybe I bend the truth from time to time…. Judaism teaches us that God is Truth. And yet, we humans, who are created in the image of God, don’t always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Most Continue Reading »
Dear Friends, This Shabbat we will be reciting the prayer for the upcoming new Jewish month of Kislev. Rosh Chodesh Kislev will be on Thursday night and Friday of this coming week. And Chanukah will be celebrated beginning toward the end of the month of Kislev…May it be a month of joy, of good health, Continue Reading »
Dear Friends, I love it when someone tells a story, leading us on to believe we know what the next chapter will be… and after a pregnant pause, they look us in the eye….and then they say: “Think Again!” We are often interested and surprised when the ending of a story is nothing like what Continue Reading »
Dear Friends, I so appreciate it when I hear the words: Have a blessed day! Truly, I appreciate it. Especially since Covid changed our lives so much, I have grown to appreciate the simplest kindly human interactions as enormously precious. Still, the phrase “Have a blessed day” often is meant to imply that blessing is Continue Reading »
Dear Friends, If this is Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot (the Intermediate Shabbat of Sukkot), then Simchat Torah must be right around the corner! And it is!!! On this coming Tuesday morning we will gather for our Shmini Atzeret service and Yizkor, and that night, on Tuesday night, we will gather for our evening Simchat Torah Continue Reading »
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