Blogs

As a child in Sunday morning Religious School, I remember looking raptly at a poster hanging in Mrs. Fogel’s third grade classroom.  “Whoever saves one life,” it said, “saves an entire world.”  I may not have entirely grasped the depth of this statement, but I understood enough to sense that it pointed to a world in which our actions and choices are important.  Maybe more important than we...Read more...

Sunday night, we lit all the candles. With any luck, we were surrounded by friends and family. We shared pictures online, shared good food and good times. The previous days may have been filled with parties, dinners, presents, songs—perhaps even a little bit of painting, accompanied by a lot of latkes, with our Temple Beth David family.

Family can provide the light we need in dark times.

For...Read more...

This week’s Torah portion, Vayeishev, is a juicy one. It’s the one where Joseph takes center stage, sharing his dreams of superiority with his brothers and parading proudly about in his amazing technicolor dream coat. It’s the one where some of his brothers plot to kill him, but cooler heads prevail, and they settle for faking his death and selling him into slavery instead. It’s the one where his master’s...Read more...

Last night, I dreamed I had a baby. No one was more surprised than I was, but the doctor (who resembled a coworker) insisted I was expecting, and seconds later I found myself the proud mother of a fourth child, a little girl I was thinking of naming Estelle or Phoebe. I took her into my arms, astonished at the adult proportions of her facial features but delighted by her tiny body and cute fingers, and we were instantly transported...Read more...

This has been a season of intense loss in our community.  Beloved congregants have died, as have parents and other relatives of our members.  As a community, we have celebrated all that was good in their lives, and rallied around to be of assistance to those mourning their losses.  And we always will.  It is one of the most sacred tasks we perform for each other, with great love.  We allow...Read more...