In this week’s Torah portion, the tribes of Reuben and Gad make an extraordinary commitment. Although they have already found the land where they hope to settle, they tell Moses, “We will not return to our homes until the other Israelites are in possession of their portion.” (Numbers 32:18) They...
Shabbat shalom to all of you here in the sanctuary, and those streaming. Thank you to the KI community for having the trust and belief in me to serve in this very prestigious position at this pivotal time in our history as a people, the Jewish community at large, and...
“I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.” – Abby Wambach, international soccer superstar Tonight, I address you for the final time as President of KI, after four gratifying one-year terms. I’ll share with you my profound thanks, a perspective on service, a...
Everyone’s talking about the Knicks. The Knicks this and the Knicks that. This is their first championship in fifty-three years. They are a comeback story. They are an underdog story. No one picked them. Then they put an entire city on their back and did the impossible. They knocked out...
I grew up in Iowa surrounded by the potential of food. Endless rows of corn and soybean fields stretched farther than the eye could see. One of our favorite family activities was simply driving to admire the beauty of the possibility planted in the earth. There was something holy about...
Our Torah portion this week begins with a manual on lighting the lamps of the first ever synagogue: ‘When you light the lamps, let seven lamps give light at the front… and Aaron did so, lighting the lamps at the front as God commanded… Each lampstand was a hammered work...
Ecclesiastes teaches that ‘to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.’ We are very much in the season of milestones. Over these coming weeks we will watch as our children and grandchildren graduate from high school and college. Some will move on from middle...
Shavuot is one of Judaism’s most beautiful celebrations because it reminds us that revelation did not happen only once at Mount Sinai. Torah must continually be renewed. Confirmation traditionally takes place on Shavuot because Shavuot celebrates the giving of Torah at Sinai. Just as our people stood together to receive...
On Tuesday, a mural was installed in memory of the children who lost their lives in the Holocaust. Artist Jane M. Hirsberg — a member of KI, a teacher in the Quest Noar program, and a member of the TJM Artists Collaborative — created the mural, inspired by the poem...
Our Torah portion this week will note that on each night of their journey across the wilderness the twelve tribes would all camp beneath their own flag: “The Israelites shall each camp with his flag, under the banners of their ancestral house; they shall camp around the Tent of Meeting”...
