Keeping Connected  April 2019

Spring is just around the corner and we will soon be celebrating Passover, the Festival of Freedom. Pesach is a holiday that evokes differing emotions and meanings. We look forward to connecting with family and friends. We anticipate with excitement eating foods made from recipes that have been handed down through many generations of our family. Some of us love to create new family traditions that we can pass down to our children. We might set our tables with family heirlooms like silver bechers and old seder plates that belonged to grandparents or great-grandparents or we might set our tables in a dramatic manner that recalls being in Egypt. We debate whether matzah balls should be hard or light and whether we should make a traditional ashkenazic charosets versus a dried fruit and savory style version from another region of the world. Versions of haggadot also ABOUND! There is the Maxwell House that many of us grew up with and contemporary versions galore that focus on themes of social justice. There are haggadot geared to young kids and haggadot that are theme-based; yes, there is a baseball haggadah, a Harry Potter haggadah, a vegan haggadah and more!More

Keeping Connected  March 2019

Dear Friends,

Years ago, when I was in seminary, Rabbi Alexander Schindler (z”l), the then president of the Reform Movement, courageously and passionately spoke about the need to throw open the doors of our synagogues to all those who were interested in being involved with Jewish life. He coined the term “Outreach” and in those early days, the Reform movement’s efforts were directed in particular to More

Keeping Connected  February 2019

Dear Friends,

As a rabbi, it is a blessing, to be able to share the richness and joys of Jewish life with others. As a rabbi, however, it is also my responsibility to talk about difficult subjects. In particular, to address the reality that sometimes being Jewish is hard; that as Jews we can feel under-threat and impacted by forces of anti-Semitism. Sadly, in the last few years, just as hate-crimes as a whole More

Keeping Connected January 2019

Dear Friends,

I am excited to be part of an effort in collaboration with our lay leadership to increase opportunities for engagement and community building within the framework of our congregation.  Some of these programs will be happening under the umbrella of the Membership Committee.  We have many ideas and hope some of them will resonate with you. More

December 2018 Newsletter Article

Dear Friends,

In 2017, 13 members of our congregation travelled to Washington, DC, to participate in an inspiring social justice seminar program called Consultation on Conscience.  COC, is a biennial conference that happens over a three-day period in Washington, DC, just as a new session of Congress is sworn in. The program helps to inspire, invigorate, train and empower Jewish leaders who desire to do the work of Tikkun Olam more effectively; to make significant, lasting changes in our society at a local, state and national level.  Sponsored by the Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center, this conference brings together Jewish lay people and social justice leaders from Reform congregations and communities across North America. The attendees are able to participate in meaningful and inspiring programs that will help them advocate for true social change. The programs, which are led by some of our nations most dynamic leaders, help the attendees learn more about the critical issues facing society and culminates in lobbying Congress on the final day.  It is truly an amazing experience to lobby with hundreds of other leaders from the Reform Movement and to know that as a collective force we can become a catalyst for change.  More

November 2018 Newsletter Article

Each month I invite the 11th and 12th graders to study with me at my home for Post-Confirmation class. Over brownies we converse about topics in which there is an intersection between Judaism, social justice, current events and identity. The conversations, which are wide ranging, make clear to me that our teens are growing up in a world in which they need to navigate issues that are truly challenging.

At our first class of the year I did a mixer with the teens.  I opened up a pack of 50 postcards called Act Now! – Protest Postcards. Each teen was supposed to take one or two postcards which display an image that they care about or one that they care about and one they disagree with.  The postcards were either photographs of actual signs for protest marches or pictures of people holding signs.  We had a great conversation about the issues that are on their minds.

Two students picked cards that I think are relevant for all of us.  One teen chose a card that has a picture of the earth from space and it says, “There is NO Plan B” with the earth being the “o” in NO.  The second student picked a sign that says, “Science IS REAL”.  Both of these teens spoke about the fact that although they cared about many of the other issues that were written on the other cards, the issue of climate change was so scary and important to them that they could not think of another more important issue.More