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Rabbi's Corner: June 2026 – The Spirituality of Now and Then

6/1/2026

June brings summer and peak light (even if the weather has been finicky). For Shir Ami and many congregations, June is a "last hurrah" before summer break.

This year, because the High Holy Days come a bit "early," June also begins a "split screen" of focus on the Now of summer light and the Then of what's next.

There's a deep spirituality to fully living both Now and Then.

"Let All God's People Be Prophets" (P. Beha'alotekha)

5/31/2026

Maybe we imagine that the ideal of Jewish spirituality turns most on a spiritual leader.

Throughout history, rank-and-file Jews often deferred to spiritual leaders – from Moses to modern professional rabbis. Often they imagined that heightened spiritual connectivity was the special calling and province of the few.

This week's Torah portion underscores that this pattern was wrong from the start.

On Spiritual Discipline (P. Nasso)

5/24/2026

One of many things I appreciate about Judaism is that she offers many paths toward meaning, holiness and self-refinement.

It makes sense that there isn't just one way. After all, people are wired, raised and educated differently. So it stands to reason that Judaism would offer multiple paths befitting our diversity of perspective and life trajectory.

It's telling that our tradition's greatest paths to spiritual meaning and holiness – the discipline of long-term wise choice – comes forward in Torah precisely now, just after Shavuot.

Every Day, A Voice Comes Forth (Shavuot)

5/17/2026

Where does our "belly barometer" come from? How do we know what is just and right?

This week, the Torah cycle suspends for Shavuot, our festival anniversary of the revelation at Sinai, and our collective communion with the One we call God.

Though our community opted not to schedule a Shavuot celebration this year due to Memorial Day weekend (we'll have a mini-Yizkor online), it's still an important important chance to consider our source of revelation, justice and rightness.

Redeeming Life's Wilderness (P. Bamidbar)

5/10/2026

I intend my weekly Torah writings to be about more than the Torah portion. I tend to see in nearly every portion both the flow of spirit and community far more than myself, and universal values that transcend any particular time, place and context.

But right now, for personal reasons I see Torah reflecting back at me my own situation. – and in particular my own personal wilderness, what I might learn there, and how I might redeem it.

Even so, I sense that my present experience isn't much different than most everyone's at one time or another. As for me, perhaps also for you.

Rabbi's Corner: May 2026 – On Receiving Torah & May Highlights

5/3/2026

Fittingly for this month that leads into Shavuot, our festival of receiving Torah, I write these words on the evening after Nancy Heller's bat mitzvah.

I write these words about how we receive Torah and what it means for a spiritual community to put Torah at our center –

– the physical scroll, of course, and far more.

Our Greatest Interests of All (P. Behar-Behukotai)

5/3/2026

Money can be a sensitive subject, which is one reason Torah bans charging interest among our people. (The Qur'an does the same for Muslims.)

Torah and Qur'an are aiming at far more than money: after all, most of us don't lend money.

This mitzvah is really about relationships and right use of power, which spiritually are far more important than money. This mitzvah aims at the heart of our greatest interest of all.

Counting Our Days for Spiritual Healing (P. Emor)

4/26/2026

On Torah's sacred calendar, most every holiday begins either at the new moon or the full moon. Our calendar is in the sky, shining down on us every day.

There are two exceptions to this new moon / full moon calendar. One is Yom Kippur, for which we count days since Rosh Hashanah. The other is the forthcoming Shavuot, for which we count days since Passover.

Now we have printed (and digital) calendars, but we still count our days – for an important reason.

Learning The Love That Matters Most (P. Aharei Mot-Kedoshim)

4/19/2026

There are things we learn from our parents.

There are things we learn from first encounters with the sacred.

There are things we learn only by going out into the world.

There are things we learn by walking a mile in others' shoes.

There are things we learn by overcoming the impulses of retribution and hatred.

Truly loving our neighbor as ourselves is the spiritual culmination of them all, the gift that only rough-and-tumble life experience can grant.

Third Spaces: Safe to Be, Safe to Become (P. Tazria-Metzora)

4/12/2026

Spiritual community is a vital Third Place – not home or work, nor totally public – that can help anchor, comfort and shape us. Like the Boston pub in "Cheers," spiritual community ideally is "where everybody knows your name / And they're always glad you came."

We might say likewise of secular clubs, volunteer groups and hangouts becoming less common in the digital society. But spiritual community is unique in how it calls us to be authentically and fully ourselves, warts and all – and then evolve.

<<Previous

Rabbi's Corner: June 2026 – The Spirituality of Now and Then

"Let All God's People Be Prophets" (P. Beha'alotekha)

On Spiritual Discipline (P. Nasso)

Every Day, A Voice Comes Forth (Shavuot)

Redeeming Life's Wilderness (P. Bamidbar)

Rabbi's Corner: May 2026 – On Receiving Torah & May Highlights

Our Greatest Interests of All (P. Behar-Behukotai)

Counting Our Days for Spiritual Healing (P. Emor)

Learning The Love That Matters Most (P. Aharei Mot-Kedoshim)

Third Spaces: Safe to Be, Safe to Become (P. Tazria-Metzora)

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