Rabbinic Blog - Congregation Shir Ami

To Kick Bad Habits, Watch Time (P. Ki Teitzei)

8/31/2025

Source: Harvard Health (2022)

We all have impulses and habits that we're not proud of and don't well serve us. Sometimes we can take them on directly. But especially if we load our habits with negative emotions and self-judgments, focusing on our habits and impulses can only reinforce them.

There's another way – and as the holy month of Elul begins, it comes right on time.

Rabbi's Corner – September 2025 & High Holy Days: #StrongerTogether

8/26/2025

It's true every year: The holy month of Elul is our portal into the Season of Meaning. These High Holy Days approach at a pivotal time in collective and global life. This moment asks both all our love and all our strength – including the strength to be vulnerable, deeply truthful, shimmeringly real, courageous and intrepid. We are #StrongerTogether – our theme for 5786.

Power Moves and the Rule of Law (P. Shoftim)

8/24/2025

Current concern about eroding the rule of law is perhaps unprecedented in modern history.
Jewish spirituality anticipated the concern 3,000 years ago, and ancient wisdom points our way forward now at this pivotal moment.

The Middle Pathway (P. Re'eh)

8/17/2025

Nobody needs to hear that we live in polarized times. We know it. We see it in the media we consume. We sense it in friends and family. We feel it in our bodies. Polarized times often reflect and feed polarized thinking. "She's the best." "He's awful." "These times are the worst." "We're blessed beyond measure." "We're toast."

Some things genuinely seem to be extremes of good or bad – but not everything. There's a Middle Pathway beckoning us through.

What's 'Mine' is 'Yours' (P. Eikev)

8/10/2025

Western thought tends to hold that what we "own" – what we buy, what we earn, what we produce – is truly and only "ours."

Whoever we are and whatever our politics, much that we know about democracy and capitalism assumes this fundamental premise.

The idea is so basic and engrained that we hardly notice it – and even more rarely question it.

The thing is, though, we've been bumping up against this principle's inherent imitations since we arrived on these shores, since we developed moral conscience, since we climbed down from trees.

Especially now, humanity would do well to give it a closer and critical look.

Recovery After Disappointment, and a Pregnant Moses (P. Vaethanan)

8/3/2025

We've all known disappointments – some deeply personal, others collective and even global.

With 20/20 hindsight, we know that there's life after our disappointments, and even blessings. In the moment that life dashes our hopes and dreams, however, often we forget.

This week's Torah portion offers profound lessons about recovery after life doesn't go our way, with a striking image to help us – a pregnant Moses.

Yes, you read that correctly. Read on.

Rabbi's Corner – August 2025: From 'Oy' to 'Joy'

8/1/2025

August brings peak summer and then, subtly at first, transition. Jewishly we pass through grief's gate of Tisha b'Av onto the seven-week runway to Rosh Hashanah. We will launch this cycle's High Holy Day runway series. At full moon, Tu b'Av and the Shabbat of love and comfort will greet us as a needed balm to the heart.

The next new moon begins the holy month of Elul. The shofar will sound with strength. Our hearts will stir. We are called back. Remember who we really are. It's time.

To Kick Bad Habits, Watch Time (P. Ki Teitzei)

Rabbi's Corner – September 2025 & High Holy Days: #StrongerTogether

Power Moves and the Rule of Law (P. Shoftim)

The Middle Pathway (P. Re'eh)

What's 'Mine' is 'Yours' (P. Eikev)

Recovery After Disappointment, and a Pregnant Moses (P. Vaethanan)

Rabbi's Corner – August 2025: From 'Oy' to 'Joy'

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