Category: From The Rabbi's Desk

Rabbi's Corner – April 2025: Forward, Together

4/1/2025

At this hour, Jewish communities around the world are preparing for Passover – the festival of freedom whose underpinnings first made the Children of Israel into a people.

What makes us a people is shared experience and shared calling – and this month it's on us to renew both. A robust calendar of events both local and global is here to help.

Rabbi's Corner – March 2025: Spring Forward

2/23/2025

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

1/30/2025

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.

Rabbi's Corner – December 2024: The Most Important Light

12/1/2024

December sets Jewish sights toward Hanukkah – a holiday that many of us treat as a minor commemoration suited mainly to children. Even in my early years of rabbinical school, I believed that Hanukkah was no big deal.

How wrong I was – and I want to share my personal story (and Hanukkah's historic story) precisely now, when public visibility and pride in Jewish life both feel especially vital and loaded.

Rabbi's Corner – November 2024: Shifting Gears, Going Deep

10/29/2024

November brings a seasonal gear shift, and with it new opportunities to go deep into the love and spiritual tools of community. I'm tailoring most everything in November to deepening into this year's love theme in day-to-day life, knowing that the days ahead may well be quite full for our country and community.

Rabbi's Corner – September 2024: Gateway to the High Holy Days of 5785

9/2/2024

This week's start of the holy month of Elul is our gateway into the Season of Meaning.

This monthly Rabbi's Corner column is dedicated to the upcoming High Holy Days of 5785 – our theme, our music, what to expect, and how to make the most of this poignant season at a most pivotal time.

Rabbi's Corner – August 2024: For the Sake of Ascent

8/1/2024

Our long, luxurious summer continues, yet already change is afoot. This month brings the Great Turning of Judaism's spiritual year. It's something that maybe many of us never knew in our Jewish lives. The Great Turning runs like a background program – just under the surface, animating the flow of spiritual time. It heralds hope from despair and resilience from the bottom of a well ...

... which is exactly what we need right now.

Rabbi's Corner – July 2024: Spirituality on the Slow

7/1/2024

When I began with Shir Ami one year ago, the "early" High Holy Days were fast approaching. Our first months together sometimes felt like launching off an aircraft carrier.

This year, we get a real summer. Rosh Hashanah won't be until October. This summer, we get to take it slow. What's spirituality on the slow?

Rabbi's Corner: June 2024 – Peak Light

6/2/2024

We approach the peak light of Shavuot and Mount Sinai, and also the peak light of the solar zenith in the Northern Hemisphere sky.

This confluence of two peak lights has me thinking about what peak experiences are, why we need them and why we sometimes push them away, and how we can open ourselves anew to inviting them as this summer season of light approaches.

Rabbi's Corner – May 2024: Getting Married

5/1/2024

This month, we're on the runway to not one but two congregational weddings. The second of them, metaphorically speaking, is next month in June, when the collective Jewish people stand at Sinai again to receive Torah anew. In many ways, it's like a "wedding." We'll get there shortly.

On May 19, we – the Shir Ami community , and I as rabbi – are slated to have a "wedding" of sorts. That day, we'll gather to confirm my installation as rabbi of Shir Ami. What is this about, and why is it like a "wedding"?

<<Previous

Rabbi's Corner – April 2025: Forward, Together

Rabbi's Corner – March 2025: Spring Forward

Rabbi's Corner – February 2025: Prelude to Spring

Rabbi's Corner – December 2024: The Most Important Light

Rabbi's Corner – November 2024: Shifting Gears, Going Deep

Rabbi's Corner – September 2024: Gateway to the High Holy Days of 5785

Rabbi's Corner – August 2024: For the Sake of Ascent

Rabbi's Corner – July 2024: Spirituality on the Slow

Rabbi's Corner: June 2024 – Peak Light

Rabbi's Corner – May 2024: Getting Married

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