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...
This week, like so many parents across the country, we are dropping one of our children off at college. Noa will become a freshman at Adelphi University in New York. She is smart, creative and brave. She is ready. Arguably, she’s more than ready. As for her parents, we are convincing ourselves...
It feels really good to let go—until it doesn’t. As we begin turning toward the New Year, we have the opportunity to think about what we want to let go of: mistakes, decisions, hurts, expectations, and the things we simply don’t want to carry with us anymore. It is easy...
Yesterday our middle son Elijah returned from six weeks in Israel. It was early in the morning when we picked him up but he was full of life and ready to talk my ear off about his life-changing trip. He told me about Shabbat in Jerusalem, hiking up Masada at...
Our youngest daughter, Kira, will do just about anything to drive. She is getting her license in October, and I am more than happy to take her out for every bit of practice she can get. It’s as much a preparation for her to be out there on her own...
Our Torah portion this week will state: “For what great nation is there that has a god so close at hand as is the Eternal our God whenever we call out?” (Deuteronomy 4:7) The Israelites will experience the closeness of God time and again. God is with them, by their...
