The beginning of this week’s Torah portion tells of the end of Sarah’s life. We are told that Sarah dies at the age of 127. She dies, after a full life, in Hebron. Abraham will set out to find an appropriate burial site for her. Meeting with the Hittites, he...
As I write these words, many of us are paying close attention to the results of Israel’s recent election. On Tuesday, a record number of Israelis went to the polls to cast their vote and have a hand in determining the country’s next administration. Israel is run by a parliamentary...
A GIFT OF THE GLASSMAN FAMILY Dedicated at Shabbat services, Friday, November 13, 2026 As part of KI’s Kristallnacht commemoration My painting was created as a tribute to the memory, resilience, and the enduring light of children who lives were cut short. Inspired by the poem “The Last Butterfly” the...
In this week’s Torah portion, Lech L’cha, God makes a beautiful promise to Abraham: “I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2). It is those final words “and you shall be a blessing” that resonate with me this week. We often...
We would be so tempted to read the story of Noah’s Ark as a fairytale. The rain begins to fall. The animals are loaded onto the ark. Following forty days of commotion and chaos, the rain stops. The dove comes back with an olive branch, signaling the start of a...
This week we return once again to our Torah portion, Bereishit. In the beginning. The Torah opens with tohu va-vohu, a world of chaos and uncertainty, and from that chaos comes creation, light and possibility (Genesis 1:1–4). Those words feel especially meaningful this week as we mark three years since...
The high holy day season culminates with Simchat Torah, when we read the final verses of the Torah and immediately start our Torah reading cycle anew. It is – to be clear – my favorite Jewish holiday. I love Simchat Torah. After all of the heaviness of this season, all...
Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur are so meaningful. They are at the heart of the Jewish experience and have been for generations: the liturgy, the music, the call of the shofar, the reflection and introspection we take part in as a community, the solemnity of Yizkor, the grandeur of it...
Joni Mitchell famously sang, ‘they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.’ We at KI didn’t pave paradise, but we did put down a new parking lot in these last few days. Is the rabbi about to make a new parking lot have some kind of Jewish meaning? Is...
I don’t like it when the High Holy Days come so early. I always feel like I don’t have enough time to prepare my spirit for all that is to come, and I’m still in summer mode! Perhaps you are thinking the same way. But as I was thinking about...
