Category: From The Rabbi's Desk

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.

Rabbi's Corner: April 2026 – Events of Identity, Remembrance and Presence

4/1/2026

Passover re-launches the Jewish cycle of identity, remembrance and presence. Passover's end brings Yizkor for our deceased loved ones. The following week brings Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), then days later comes Yom Ha'Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day).

Shir Ami will commemorate each of them, along with Refugee Shabbat and Holiness Shabbat.

Mark your calendars. As spring unfolds, it's time to go public in community and solidarity.

Rabbi's Corner: March 2026 – Plugging into Grief, Joy, Anxiety and Hope

3/1/2026

As I write these words, Israel and Iran are at war, and our community has sustained losses.

And, after a brutal-weather winter, climatological spring is starting at last. The joy of Purim opened a runway to the renewed liberation of Passover.

Jewish spirituality is about how we see what we see, stretching to be more and holding it all. And in service of calibrating our vision and our hearts, Jewish life is about choosing what we plug into – and sometimes selectively unplugging to heal our vision and our inner circuits.

Rabbi's Corner: February 2026 – Count to Three, and We Go Free

1/25/2026

It happens every month: the moon waxes and wanes, marking planetary time quietly above our heads.

It happens every year: three full moons set our course from winter to spring, from concealed to revealed, from bondage to liberation.

Those three full moons now begin. Ready or not, spring is on its way – and I, for one, am ready.

Rabbi's Corner: January 2026 – Early Spiritual Pre-Spring

1/1/2026

Happy New Year 2026, Shir Ami!

In secular life, it's a time of new calendars, new year's resolutions and perhaps gentle re-boots.

Because the Jewish calendar precesses 11 days each year, this year's spiritual pre-spring begins a bit early.

Then again, already it's been a cold and snowy winter – with perhaps months to go – so an early spiritual pre-spring is welcome.

Turns out that nature already is getting in on the act. Already creative juices are flowing. Already a re-boot is in progress.

Rabbi's Corner: December 2025 – A Year's Second Hanukkah

11/30/2025

Thanks to how this year's secular and Jewish calendars interact, the approaching Festival of Lights will be the second Hanukkah of 2025.

Hanukkah is one of Judaism's most popular celebrations. For centuries, our people voted with our candles and community gatherings, as will we several times during the weeks ahead.

In this month's Rabbi's Corner, R. David offers two ways that perhaps we can make this year's Hanukkah uniquely meaningful, rooted in the deep well from which Hanukkah springs.

Don't miss the light shining at Shir Ami!

Rabbi's Corner: November 2025 – Making a 'Yesvember' Community

11/2/2025

After months of Jewish intensity, November plateaus in a month without Jewish holidays.

In this month's Rabbi's Corner column, Rabbi David reflects on what this seasonal shift can make possible for Shir Ami, and all Jewish communities.

The choices we make now about "doing Jewish" – not just "being Jewish" – will tell us much about what we value, and who we are.

Rabbi's Corner – October 2025: From Sukkot Into Peak Autumn

10/5/2025

R. David re-issues his High Holy Day sermons and covers Shir Ami's October highlights, including Sukkot Shabbat (Oct. 10), Rabbi David's Sukkot Party (Oct. 12), online Yizkor for Shemini Atzeret (Oct. 13), the launch of a feminist year of SoulSpa (Oct. 18), and the return of our regular musical Shabbat services (Oct. 24).

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.

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.

<<Previous

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

Rabbi's Corner: April 2026 – Events of Identity, Remembrance and Presence

Rabbi's Corner: March 2026 – Plugging into Grief, Joy, Anxiety and Hope

Rabbi's Corner: February 2026 – Count to Three, and We Go Free

Rabbi's Corner: January 2026 – Early Spiritual Pre-Spring

Rabbi's Corner: December 2025 – A Year's Second Hanukkah

Rabbi's Corner: November 2025 – Making a 'Yesvember' Community

Rabbi's Corner – October 2025: From Sukkot Into Peak Autumn

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

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

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