分类: Spirituality

What's In a Name? (P. Vaera)

1/11/2026

We call our beloveds by many names. Whether a given name, an adopted name, a "pet" name or something else, each name encodes a special relationship and a story about it.

Why should it be different for the Beloved that we call God?

It's not. "God" isn't a Name but a role, a function. As for the Name of God – the One goes by many names.

And each Name tells a profound story. That story is worth telling.

The Angelic Art of Redemption (P. Vayehi)

12/28/2025

Before it's all said and done, what do we make of the dust-ups, hurts, disappointments and dramas of our messy lives?

it's tempting to answer that we bear them as best we can, and even make meaning of them – and hopefully we do. But is there more?

Is there a way to redeem what happens in our lives? Is there a way to bless others by what we ourselves have become?

That's Jacob's last blessing, and ours – with bonus content from one of my students.

From Rabbi David – An "Oneg Shabbat" Model Starting in January

12/21/2025

If you've been a regular participant at Shabbat services this autumn, perhaps you've begun to notice subtle shifts in tone and pace.

Shir Ami is diverse in many ways, so I've been slowly experimenting with different approaches to Shabbat. My purpose has been to honor the whole of our diverse community, authentically, and also calibrate the palette of "feel" over time.

Here's to make this subtle shift more explicit and invite us to co-create different kinds of Shabbat experiences together, starting in January.

Subverting Absolute Power (P. Vayigash)

12/21/2025

We live in an era of rising global strongmen and eroding guardrails for democracy.

Judaism has seen much in its 3,500 years, including the rise and fall of many strongmen.

Effective frontal confrontations are rare against absolute power and its penchant for corruption. Such powers tend to entrench themselves by means as damaging and corrupt as they are.

More common are less attention-grabbing ways to subvert absolute power. These tend to be less frontal, less direct, maybe less effective taken one by one. But together, they make the difference.

Out of the Darkness (P. Mikeitz)

12/14/2025

During this Hanukkah week – and now in the wake of the attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Australia – we kindle candles of hope, continuity and community.

We participate in an extraordinary collective act of hutzpah.

We've all known the darkness before the dawn, the anxiety before the knowing, the gauntlet before the triumph. There have been times so dark that we could never imagine light ever penetrating.

And yet.

The Amazing Technicolor Hindsight Stories We Tell Ourselves (P. Vayeishev)

12/7/2025

Joseph's coat of many colors has become the stuff of art, parenting books, spiritual seeking and a now-timeless Broadway musical.

And wow, is it loaded! Perhaps Joseph's coat became such a Biblical icon precisely because it is so loaded.

Stitched into its amazing technicolor weave is a deep teaching about how we make meaning in our lives – and the stories we tell about what happens. In the process, this essentially human (and Jewish) project can't help but play a time-traveling trick on us that hides in plain sight.

It's worth revealing that hidden story (with bonus content from "The West Wing").

Hearing the Unheard (P. Vayishlah)

11/30/2025

Sometimes received religious traditions fail to hear the voice of suffering. Even worse, received traditions can suppress the voice of suffering.

It happens because every religion, by definition, titrates high principle through inherently limited and flawed human capacity.

What is our duty in response?

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!

Rational Spirituality Beyond Belief (P. Toledot)

11/16/2025

Believers might readily embrace the spiritual prospect of asking God a question and receiving a response (whether with a knowing or feeling beyond self, or an inner sense within).

But how about disbelievers? In a rational world of left-brain logic, can suffering and brokenness drive a rational response that is spiritual? Indeed they can, and the source is poignant.

The Pause That Refreshes (P. Hayyei Sarah)

11/9/2025

When we think of a "pause that refreshes," most modern Jews will think of Shabbat. For sure.

Turns out that a daily "pause that refreshes" is good for the soul, and for work efficiency, and physical health. And it's very Jewish.

Read on, with a bonus spotlight on R. David's learning at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.

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Forward>>

What's In a Name? (P. Vaera)

The Angelic Art of Redemption (P. Vayehi)

From Rabbi David – An "Oneg Shabbat" Model Starting in January

Subverting Absolute Power (P. Vayigash)

Out of the Darkness (P. Mikeitz)

The Amazing Technicolor Hindsight Stories We Tell Ourselves (P. Vayeishev)

Hearing the Unheard (P. Vayishlah)

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

Rational Spirituality Beyond Belief (P. Toledot)

The Pause That Refreshes (P. Hayyei Sarah)

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