Rabbinic Blog - Congregation Shir Ami

When We Don't Want to See – Tisha b'Av, Stronger Together (P. Devarim)

7/27/2025

This weekend in the year 70 CE, Rome destroyed the Second Temple, launched a wave of exile and depravity, and ended Judaism as it then existed.

The destruction became a symbol and stand-in for much that we try not to see or think about about Jewish persecution, loss and suffering. Humans are adept at limiting our vision to avoid overwhelm when it's too much to bear alone.

Jewish experience drives Jewish resilience today. Our people who faced and lost so much over the centuries knows how to survive and thrive.

History then is character now. We'd rather not see some things about ourselves. It's one reason Jewish life evolved this solemn day to breach our inner walls and rivet us on what we often don't or won't see – all to help us build resilience, grow and thrive #StrongerTogether.

Spiritual Vision – Now and Beyond Now (P. Matot-Masei)

7/20/2025

Last week, Israel's High Court of Justice ordered the Orthodox rabbinate of Israel to let women take rabbinic ordination examinations on the same terms as male applicants.

For thousands of years, Jewish life has evolved. Varying by issue and era, some evolutions have been fast, some glacially slow, some halting and non-linear, some seemingly "two steps forward and one step back."

This latest step by Israel's High Court of Justice reminds, as Israel's High Court often does, that Dr. King was right: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

It's on us to do the bending, and to know that we can, even when the path seems daunting – even impossible. All concrete spirituality requires vision beyond here and now.

The Problem of Zealotry – Part 2 (P. Pinhas)

7/13/2025

Last week we encountered the issue of zealotry – its captivating power, and its often very high cost to self and society. We asked whether the nature of zealotry requires that we, in turn, must become zealots to confront zealotry's harms.

Our world today demands our best answer.

The Problem of Zealotry – Part 1 (P. Balak)

7/6/2025

Don Quixote comes to mind, though Cervantes meant his fictional character to be satire.

Too many zealots, both historical and modern, are anything but fictions or mere satire.

A zealot's charisma can captivate and intoxicate. A zealot's seeming commitment to principle can inspire – or blind. Adulation can reinforce the zealot's sense of rightness. Intoxicated by their own power and rightness, zealots may feel that they're special, even chosen – whatever the cost.

And often, almost always, there is a cost. Yet life is full of zealotry. Must we be zealots in turn?

Rabbi's Corner – July 2025: After Two Years

7/1/2025

It's my two-year anniversary with Congregation Shir Ami. Anniversaries are opportunities to look back and look ahead, take stock and adjust.

My clergy colleagues and I have been discussing what these two years have been like for us and the souls we serve. Like many of us, many of you have experienced some of the same dynamics impacting Jewish life here and around the world.

Judaism's "three things" – the three pillars of Jewish spiritual life – are useful measures of how we're doing, and ever powerful ways to lift us all.

When We Don't Want to See – Tisha b'Av, Stronger Together (P. Devarim)

Spiritual Vision – Now and Beyond Now (P. Matot-Masei)

The Problem of Zealotry – Part 2 (P. Pinhas)

The Problem of Zealotry – Part 1 (P. Balak)

Rabbi's Corner – July 2025: After Two Years

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