Category: Festivals

The Mitzvah of Joy (Sukkot)

10/5/2025

To many moderns, Sukkot is a strange holiday. Our ancestral agricultural days that inspired the harvest festival are long gone. The threat of scarcity that inspired celebration for bounty feels distant in our relative affluence. And yet we are commanded – commanded! – to be joyful.

What is joy if it's commanded, and what kind of command is that?

For Whom We Stand (P. Ha'azinu)

9/28/2025

On this far end of Yom Kippur, we remember in our bones that all life goes the way of all life. It is true that all life ultimately dies, and equally true that all that dies once lived. We also know that in very real ways, all that died lives on in us, through us, in the air we breathe, in the values we uphold.

We who dared to touch death on Yom Kippur rise into new life and new joy as we near Sukkot (Season of our Joy). And then the cycle begins again – exactly as before, and utterly changed.

Rabbi's Corner – June 2025: Shavuot, Loving Together at Sinai

6/1/2025

Happy June, which this year also means Happy Shavuot!

Rabbi David offers coming attractions about the Shavuot festival of love this weekend, and some personal thoughts about what this festival means to him amidst family challenges.

Holy Gear Shifts (P. Emor)

5/11/2025

As spiritual beings, we can understand life as a constant choice between inertia and change, letting things ride or deliberately altering them. We don't pay attention, or we do. We accept what is, or we try to act.

So it is with most things Jewish, especially Jewish time – a series of holy gear shifts throughout life.

All Together, Then and Now – and Omer Week 2 (Passover)

4/14/2025

We say that each of us was there. In ancestral ways that defy the mind, every soul spark that ever was experienced the miracle of the Sea splitting to reveal our freedom path forward. The moment was so awesome that we all became like prophets. We still carry that vision.

Passover's seventh day is the anniversary of that awesome day. Honoring that we all were there, we bring in our departed ancestors for Yizkor.

You Are the High Priest – and Omer 5785 (P. Tzav & Passover)

4/6/2025

The matzah that is the Passover bread is about many things. Amidst the crunch and crumbles we might find humility, ancestry, community and reminders of liberation.

Hidden in matzah's layers of meaning (and this week's Torah portion) is one more thing – a profound empowerment and call to each of us.

Rabbi's Corner – March 2025: Spring Forward

3/1/2025

The spring quarter of the Jewish spiritual year is all about who we are as a people, and who we are becoming. Each spring holiday and Shir Ami gathering, one after the next, will uplift these themes.

As we spring forward into this season of identity, we'll better appreciate and enjoy the journey if we know more about where we're going.

Rabbi's Corner – February 2025: Prelude to Spring

2/1/2025

Happy February, Shir Ami.

After a cold, dark and bleak January, February ushers in the first hints of spring.

Even now, the first almond blossoms are starting to blossom in Israel. It's time for Tu b'Shevat, Judaism's start of spiritual spring.

If you're not ready, if it feels too early to matter, that's exactly the point.

Be A Light (P. Mikeitz)

12/23/2024

It's telling that Hanukkah is one of the Judaism's most popular holidays: more than any other ritual, Jews light candles for the Festival of Lights.

Amidst so much darkness it's tempting to think that the candles we light can't do much – and in truth, wee candles can't do much. They certainly don't automatically dispel the world's darkness.

But that's not the point. The candles aren't the point. We ourselves must be the light.

Omer Week 7 – Presence: Awareness and Sovereignty

6/3/2024

The Omer journey that began at Passover (liberation) leads through this seventh and final week to Shavuot (revelation).

Along the way, we delved into inner capacities and character traits, aligned with the mystical (kabbalistic) sequence borne of the medieval era. Week by week, we've made our way through
love (hesed), strength (gevurah), balance (tiferet), resilience (netzah), splendor (hod) and
foundation (yesod).

It all funnels into this week: presence (malkhut), bringing our full selves into the world so that we can receive Torah anew with our full selves.

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The Mitzvah of Joy (Sukkot)

For Whom We Stand (P. Ha'azinu)

Rabbi's Corner – June 2025: Shavuot, Loving Together at Sinai

Holy Gear Shifts (P. Emor)

All Together, Then and Now – and Omer Week 2 (Passover)

You Are the High Priest – and Omer 5785 (P. Tzav & Passover)

Rabbi's Corner – March 2025: Spring Forward

Rabbi's Corner – February 2025: Prelude to Spring

Be A Light (P. Mikeitz)

Omer Week 7 – Presence: Awareness and Sovereignty

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