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...
The Torah portion for this week, Terumah (Gift-offering), from Exodus 25 discusses the building of the first sanctuary of the Jewish people, a tent like structure, built, dissembled, carried and built again, numerous times during the Hebrews forty years in the desert. Its plan and utensils became the basis for...
Which came first – the hatred or the laws? Last Shabbat morning I stood on the side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge where over 50 years ago police and angry citizens probably occupied that very spot. We discussed civil rights leaders who are depicted on a mural as the students...
This week’s Torah portion, Yitro, is one of the few that names a specific person. “Yitro” or “Jethro” is Moses’ father-in-law, and is an extremely important figure to this story, which is about Moses’ leadership style and how we will eventually form a system of government that does not completely...
This year Tu BiShvat (15th of Shevat) or Jewish Arbor Day takes place on Monday, February 10, 2020. Its origins are found in the discussions of the early rabbis about the Jewish calendar. The followers of Shammai declared that the first day of the month of Shevat to be “the...
In this week’s Torah portion, Bo, God brings the final three plagues on the Egyptians and we leave Egypt. In the portion, we are told several times that God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart” in his refusal to let us go free from Egypt. What makes up these moments of Pharaoh’s hardened...
In this week’s Torah portion, God tells Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh and the Egyptians and tell them to “Let my People Go!” Moses says, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? I have a speech impediment.” This verse is always striking to me, as it...
Equal Opportunity Hate: The Sad Reality of Contemporary Anti-Semitism With this week’s Torah, Shemot (“Names”) we begin the second Book of the Torah, Exodus. Basically, the first Book, Genesis, is an introduction to the other four books of the Torah and with Exodus, we meet Moses who, along with God,...
