Blog Archives

Omer Week 2 – Strength: Courage and Boundaries

4/29/2024

During our first week of our Omer journey from Passover (liberation) to Shavuot (revelation), the theme was love (hesed) – our capacity to love and be loved, and to do so in balance and harmony.

This second week of Omer is dedicated to strength (gevurah). In this journey of character refinement, "strength" doesn't quite mean feats of physical power, but two different kinds of inner qualities.

Words To Live By (P. Aharei Mot)

4/28/2024

The Jewish people are Western civilizations first "People of the Book." Beginning with Torah, the accumulated wisdom of 3,500 years of Jewish civilization offer plenty of words to live by.

That very phrase – "words to live by" – traces its roots to this week's Torah portion. The phrase is so common that we rarely stop to consider what it means to "live by" words.

That question is very much on my mind and heart this week – during this pivotal time for our people, our planet, democracy and our justice system – when so very much hangs in the balance.

Love, That Many-Splendored Thing (Omer Week 1)

4/21/2024

Passover's second seder launches the seven-week Omer journey to Shavuot. During this journey from liberation to revelation, each week we'll uplift, balance and clean out one fractal of character and spirit. We'll stand again at Sinai in the fullest light of our souls.

Because healthy love is the world's greatest power of liberation, in this first week we begin with love.

Soul Stretch – Counting Omer for Character Where it Counts

4/15/2024

Passover launches two journeys at once. In spiritual history, it's the start of our ancestral journey from enslaved hopelessness without a future toward becoming a free people heading to the Land of Promise.

In Judaism's annual holiday cycle, Passover also launches a seven-week journey of the heart from "liberation" to the "revelation" we call Shavuot, when we celebrate standing together at Sinai anew. This springtime season offers a community pathway to refine our characters together.

Save the dates for 15-30 minute online "Soul Stretch" boosts at 8:00pm Tuesday evenings through Shavuot.

On This Year's Shir Ami Community Seder (2024)

4/15/2024

By Rabbi David Evan Markus

"What will this year's Passover seder be like?" It's a question I've heard asked many times (sometimes asked directly to me, other times not). Here are some coming attractions in the form of Four Questions (and answers).

Find the Cost of Freedom (Passover 2)

4/11/2024

The freedom we celebrate at Passover is "ours." Each year, we ritually spill a drop from our cups of joy for each of the Ten Plagues, to symbolize that we cannot drink a full cup of joy when our freedom comes at another's high cost. So what can we say this Passover, when the price of freedom, and the cost we risk without it, both are so high?

A Story About Stories About Stories (Passover 1)

4/6/2024

Dayenu: "it's enough for us." So we sing at every Passover seder.

But what's enough, anyway?

As Passover gathers us to celebrate freedom both ancestral and modern, what "enough" could there possibly be in liberation? And why would such a beloved Jewish tradition offer this curious declaration? Turns out, enough is both far more and far less than we might imagine.

Rabbi's Corner – April 2024: Free, Together

4/1/2024

"Why is this night different from all other nights?" This Passover question echoes across history; it's especially poignant this year amidst war, antisemitism and so much more tugging at the Jewish spirit. It's easy to forget that we are one people sharing a single human garment. This year reminds that there is no true Jewish freedom in mere individualism however comfortable, or in an echo chamber however reassuring, or in silencing, or in mere blame and finger pointing. This year demands that we all make space at our seder tables – and in our hearts – for the missing and diverse, what most comforts and what most challenges. After all, the only way we ever can be truly free is together.

The Strangest Fire (P. Shmini)

4/1/2024

The days ahead will bring a total solar eclipse launching the Hebrew month of Nissan, a full moon launching Passover and, in all likelihood, some kind of reckoning in a Mideast on fire.

These times of heightened energy naturally can focus us on Big Things – our highest priorities, ultimate concerns, what transcends us, faith and also faith's discontents. After all, there's a lot on fire nowadays....

Where's God in all this? And where are we?

Omer Week 2 – Strength: Courage and Boundaries

Words To Live By (P. Aharei Mot)

Love, That Many-Splendored Thing (Omer Week 1)

Soul Stretch – Counting Omer for Character Where it Counts

On This Year's Shir Ami Community Seder (2024)

Find the Cost of Freedom (Passover 2)

A Story About Stories About Stories (Passover 1)

Rabbi's Corner – April 2024: Free, Together

The Strangest Fire (P. Shmini)

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