Building Community

This week we read Parashat Kedoshim, which begins with the commandment: “You shall be holy, for I, the Eternal your God, am holy.” These words remind us that holiness is not just a state of being, but a way of living in relationship with one another. Holiness is found in...

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HaMotzi Feeds Our Soul

This weekend we will take part in our annual Spring Celebration. This year we are celebrating the people who make our HaMotzi program happen. For the last ten years, HaMotzi has provided for the food insecure of our area. Guests receive not only a hot meal, but are treated to...

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We are the Pink Triangle

This week we mark Yom HaShoah, honoring the lives lost during the Holocaust. Fewer and fewer survivors are among us. It is our job, therefore, to hold onto their stories and to tell these stories. We cannot forget what happens when hate goes unchecked, when dissent is silenced, when diversity is...

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Exodus 15: Song of the Sea

Shalom U’l’hitraot: My Final Column We are in the middle of Pesach/Passover, the Festival of our Liberation. The weekly schedule of Torah readings is interrupted by our Pesach observance. We return to Sh’mot/Exodus to read the chapters telling the Pesach story. This coming Shabbat, the seventh and last day of...

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Your Vote is Crucial

This year we have the opportunity to have a hand in shaping Israel’s future. Even from half a world away, we can help chart the future of our beloved Israel. The World Zionist Congress has met regularly for over a century. It was Theodor Herzl who convened the first Congress...

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Life is about Choices

As we come to the end of the Book of Exodus, the Israelites learn anew the central precepts of the Torah: Keep the Sabbath, give tzedakah, and have a hand in building up a Jewish community of strength. The people will come forward to help create the first ever synagogue,...

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