In many places, mostly prematurely in my opinion, people are talking about “opening up” America again. We don’t need to get into that debate here, but I do think we can begin to speculate on what the new normal is going to look like after COVID-19 is relegated to the...

“Love your Neighbor as Yourself.” This is the essence of the Torah, according to Rabbi Hillel, it is at the heart of the Torah, the center of the 5 books, it is the core of this week’s parsha. It is also the key lesson that I have learned from my...

Dear KI Congregants, In his Yom HaShoah message, Rabbi reminded us that we must all stay strong, sane and “humane” during this time. I have been seriously thinking about his words and how people that I know are acting during this most stressful of times. I came to the conclusion...

For those of us who grew up in the Reform movement or joined it during the course of our adult journey, Grant Us Peace is a familiar and much beloved prayer both because of its English language text and its various musical interpretations. What is less known is the surprising...

By the time this eKI arrives for you to read it, Passover will be over but what many are calling the 11th Plague will still be raging. We will still be quarantined and the serious discussion of trend curves and economic restarts will continue to rage. Of course, the Coronavirus...

Ordinary Citizens: Lessons from the Pandemic of 2020 Many of you may remember Stephen E. Ambrose’s book, Citizen Soldiers, which came out in 1997. At one level, it traced the history of World War II from the beaches of Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to the ultimate defeat...

By now, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the entire world is changing life as we know it. It is less clear, but certainly as true, that this experience will have long term effects on how we live on this planet after the pandemic is over. Someone once...

We are living in unprecedented times. Not just us at KI or in America but in the whole world. Not since World War II has there been a global situation which has affected everyone on the planet in a personal way.  By far our biggest challenge is medical and scientific....

This week of uncertainty about the coronavirus has impacted everyone. At KI, we have given lots of thought to the best ways to help our community be safe and healthy, while at the same time allowing for everyone’s best judgement. We are currently receiving the message of maintaining distance and...

At our senior staff meeting each week, we focus on either the Torah portion or upcoming holiday. This week we asked what is the “moral” of the Purim Story. The story is a challenging one, there is hiding of Jewish identity, ancient Anti-Semitism, and killing of Persians at the end...