Blog Archives

Our Why and Because

7/31/2023

By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Eikev 5783 (2023)

Why do we do what we do? Answers vary with circumstance: hope of getting ahead, fear of falling behind, family, laws, goals, traditions, love, memory, pain, habit and more.

And why does it matter what we do? Answers vary with perspective: self-image, reward or punishment for ourselves or others, social impact, philosophy, theology and more.

This week’s Torah portion (Eikev) wrestles with both questions – our why and because. It comes at a time in the spiritual year that especially calls our attention to them.

Jewish Greatest Hits

7/24/2023

By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Vaethanan 5783 (2023)

Imagine that you and a small group of beloveds are about to be exiled to a faraway island. Jewishly speaking, what would you take with you?

Speaking personally, my answer isn't a thing at all, but a principle from this week's Torah portion – which comes exactly on time.

How We Remember

7/17/2023

By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Devarim 5783 (2023)

Welcome to the Book of Deuteronomy, Torah's fifth book about saying it all again.

Deuter ("second") onomy ("telling") – Devarim in Hebrew – is Moses' take on what happened during the last three books. Parts are inspiringly uplifting, some is a "creative" re-telling of the past, and some is downright harsh. Maybe it resembles our own look-back on this year that, Jewishly speaking, is rounding the corner toward its final push to the reboot and renewal we call Rosh Hashanah.

Where We've Been, Where We're Going (P. Matot-Masei)

7/9/2023

By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Matot-Masei 5783 (2023)

We've heard it over and over, like the opening of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Depending on where we look around us, we see either beauty or devastation, despair or hope. Now is exactly the time that Torah, and our spiritual calendar, call us to begin seeing it all so that we can begin healing it. We need to see where we've been to know where we're going.

Rabbi's Corner – July 2023 and Summer's Sweet Spirituality of Denial

7/2/2023

By Rabbi David Evan Markus

Happy July, Shir Ami! As we begin our journey together in sacred community, I want to begin a monthly practice of sharing brief words about where each month invites us in the flow of spiritual time. By taking stock of where we are in the arc of the year, together we can deepen and heighten our experience of Jewish and spiritual life.

For this first monthly Rabbi's Corner column, I find myself in the flow of decades. Yes, this week officially begins our journey as rabbi and congregation – fellow community travelers surfing the joys and inevitable oys of living Jewishly. But it's not Shir Ami's start – not by decades.

When Peace Isn't So Peaceful (Parashat Pinhas)

7/2/2023

Joos van Winghe, "Phinehas slaying Zimri and Cozbi" (16th cy.).

For my first weekly dvar Torah as rabbi and spiritual leader of Congregation Shir Ami, let's talk about spearing people through the guts while they have sex on the altar.

Seriously? That's the context of how Parshat Pinchas begins. (Isn't it every rabbi's dream to begin serving a spiritual community community with this?)

Then again, often Torah embeds beautiful worlds of wonder, depth and redemptive meaning precisely in her dark alleys. Here, too – and exactly on time for Judaism's spiritual calendar.

Our Why and Because

Jewish Greatest Hits

How We Remember

Where We've Been, Where We're Going (P. Matot-Masei)

Rabbi's Corner – July 2023 and Summer's Sweet Spirituality of Denial

When Peace Isn't So Peaceful (Parashat Pinhas)

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