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According to tradition, one must have reached the age of 40 before studying Kabbalah. But you can study Leonard Cohen at any age. And with soulful melodies such as “Hallelujah” and “Famous Blue Raincoat,” “Suzanne” and “First We Take Manhattan,” my hope is that we don’t wait another day to study Cohen.

By studying Leonard Cohen one might walk away with an appreciation of the later spirituality presented in...Read more...

I’ve told you this before. I love Shabbat. I think it is one of the most brilliant of commandments in Jewish observance. It is time to pause the busyness of life and just stop. What a thing to be commanded! I couldn’t think of something more valuable than being asked to stop working and just reconnect-with people, with tradition, with God. Around 3 pm on Fridays, the tenor of the office changes. Yes, we are busy getting ready for...Read more...

This week, I reflect on one of my favorites teachings by Zionist thinker Ahad Ha'am. He teaches us: “More than the Jewish people have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jewish People.”

As Reform Jews we do not typically keep Shabbat by abiding by certain rules or regulations. Rather, Shabbat is a time for us to gather and to regroup with our community at the culmination of each work week. In my opinion, coming...Read more...

You don’t have to be tall to be a giant, as evidenced by Xernona Clayton.

Xernona is a civil rights leader and pioneering broadcasting executive. She is also the driving force behind the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame outside of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic site downtown. The Walk of Fame includes the footprints of civil rights pioneers – still marching after all these years – including the footprints...Read more...

Though Chanukah will have concluded when this column is published, a Talmudic passage related to the holiday (BT Shabbat) provides us with an important lesson that extends well beyond the Festival of Lights. The message is timely and, if taken to heart, might inspire more gracious and accepting behavior as we prepare to begin 2018.

The passage referenced above is one in which first century rabbinic sages, Hillel and Shammai, debate...Read more...

How many of you actually have a Chanukiah that uses oil? For those who might, does anyone really know how long the oil is supposed to last?

Whether or not we know exactly how to fuel an ancient lamp one thing that we can all relate to and that is the power of light. Both literally and figuratively, we need light to grow. Our eyes and skin need light, our circadian rhythms require light. Our souls thirst for enlightenment, our brains...Read more...

Bim bam…  yam bai bai bim biddy bai… yai lai lai lai… ay oh… 

How many of our Shabbat evening services over the years have begun with wordless melodies – niggunim – that include these or other simple sounds?  Have you ever wondered why?  Centuries ago, the early Chasidic sages of our tradition discerned the spiritual truth that, sometimes, words simply get in the way.  Getting stuck on the words...Read more...

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.  May those who love her prosper.” (Psalm 122:6)

We at Temple Sinai deplore the outbreak of violence that targeted the leaders and supporters of the Reform Movement at the Western Wall in Jerusalem earlier today. Gathering peacefully to read Torah in recognition of the upcoming ordination of four Israeli Reform rabbis, including the ordination of the 100th Israeli Reform rabbi, overly zealous...Read more...

I am writing this having made the decision once again to skip the gym this morning. It’s not that I WANT to skip the gym; but sometimes life just gets in the way. I thought I would be able to accomplish more earlier in the week in order to prepare for the weekend but I found myself trading time for time: “I know I need to do X, but today my son needed more help with his homework, so X will have to wait until later this week.” “I know...Read more...

It’s the mystery that beckons. I thought it was the colors, the stories, the music. I thought it was the culture, the history and what I know about the present. But now I know that it is the mystery that tugs at me.

I don’t know much about India. I know what I have read, what I have seen in the movies, and what I have sampled at restaurants. I know what I have learned when I have spoken with people who have made the...Read more...

As our season turns and we bid farewell to our holy days, I look forward to beginning the Torah once again. The juxtaposition of the last words of Torah and the first is quite jarring. In the final words of the Torah we are reminded of the death of Moses and that never again would there be a prophet like him who would lead us through such trials and tribulations from slavery to freedom. And then, we seamlessly return to the very beginning and...Read more...

Once again we prepare for Yom Kippur and in so doing we ask ourselves this single question: has much changed? Has much changed since last Yom Kippur? Conflicts around the world shift territory and population. Israel is praised or challenged. Grandchildren are born. Loved ones leave us. Our children are older… which means, so are we. Are we any wiser?

Judaism’s role in our lives isn’t to make us feel guilty about what we...Read more...

Over the past three weeks and into Sukkot, we sing words from Psalm 27, Achat Sha'alti me'et Adonai Otah avakesh, shivti b'veit Adonai kol y'mei chayai, lachazot b'noam Adonai ulvakeir b'heichalo. “One thing have I asked of God, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of God all the days of my life, to behold the graciousn​ess of God, and to visit early in God’s temple.” What does this mean? One interpretation comes from...Read more...

54 years ago hundreds of thousands of people assembled in Washington DC to participate in a moment that inspired a movement. Dubbed the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, participants were united in time and place and though they were not monolithic; some were standing together in protest of a society that was divided by race and class and geography and some were standing together searching for societal reforms regarding jobs and...Read more...

We have come once again to that sacred time on the Jewish calendar where it is appropriate to take stock of the many blessings in our lives and to offer our thanksgiving to God.

When reflecting upon the blessing for this particular day I realized how apparent it is that we as a congregation have much for...Read more...