Having just returned from Washington D.C. with many of our teens who visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, memory, especially of the more than 6 million who perished, is deeply on my mind. We did not visit the museum to learn the history of our people, we visited the museum to hear and learn about the memories of our people.   If you've never had the pleasure of hearing Avraham Infeld, the President Emeritus of Hillel, describe Jewish identity as a five-legged table, then don't send me a note about my title until you've watched this video.  Tomorrow, January 27th, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day - a day of memory. Memory (along with family, covenant, Israel, and Hebrew) makes up one of the five-legs of Avraham Infeld's table.    I hope you will join me tomorrow night as we honor those who perished. My words will focus on what it means to learn about our people's memory and how we must tell our stories to the next generation.   Shabbat Shalom,   Rabbi Rachael  … [Read more...]

While pre-Chanukah celebrations kicked off with a bang at last Friday night's Shabbat service, it is this Sunday night that we will kindle the candles for the first night of Chanukah.   Growing up it never felt like a statement to have a menorah shining brightly from our front window - it's just what we did.   However, today, I field lots of questions surrounding an uneasiness about publicly displaying our Jewish identity.  With rising antisemitism today, to place our menorah in the window does feel like a statement. But just like we have a mezuzah outside our front door, placing a menorah in the window is a declaration that we are proud of our Jewish identity and that in the darkness of winter we want to bring more light to the world.   When we place a menorah in the window this Chanukah, we make the following declarations:  We are proud to be Jewish and will not live in fear.  Despite threats against our communities and people throughout history, we know our purpose is to spread … [Read more...]

On Thursday, I'll be away for ten days as the rabbi-on-staff for Atlanta's December Honeymoon Israel Trip.   Temple Emanu-El is a proud Reform Zionist congregation, which is why I am investing this time away from my family and my congregational family to share my love of Israel with the next generation of young adults. Israel is a priority of our community, and as I preached on Erev Rosh HaShanah, we enrich our spiritual toolkit when we travel to Israel.   Honeymoon Israel's mission is "to provide immersive trips to Israel for locally based cohorts of couples (age 25-40) that have at least one Jewish partner, early in their committed relationship, creating communities of couples who are building families with deep and meaningful connections to Jewish life and the Jewish people."  If you haven't heard of it before, Honeymoon Israel (HMI) is a national organization co-founded by Temple Emanu-El member Mike Wise. The local Atlanta Director of Community Engagement, Elana Pollack, is also a … [Read more...]

As you set your table for Thanksgiving like a Norman Rockwell painting or prepare to pull up a chair at a Pinterest-like dining room table, take a moment to give thanks before diving into the food that took hours to prepare and will be consumed in fewer than ten minutes time.  In our family, whether on Shabbat, for birthday celebrations, or secular holidays, we always begin our meal with the tzedakah box. Everyone receives a coin from the moment they are old enough to hold it. We go around the room and each person shares something they are thankful for, and then they drop their coin into the box.  There is a ritual to the order. Pick up a coin, share gratitude, drop the coin into the tzedakah box, and pass the box to the next person.  To engage in such a ritual is to create a holy space, a sacred space. Your dining room is no longer just a dining room; now, it is the central place of kindness in your home. Giving gratitude at the start of the meal sets the tone for the whole … [Read more...]

There's a meme that has been going around the internet the past few years that is a  chart of the Jewish holidays. Within the chart are the categories: They Tried to Kill Us. We're Alive! Let's Eat! TREES!  This translations to: Does this holiday commemorate our survival after people tried to kill us? The answer of course being "yes" or "no."   The next category has to do with whether or not we are commemorating death (like on Yom HaShoah). The answers again being "yes" or "no."   Then there's the question of whether this is a holiday of eating. For this one they add the option of "ok," because on certain holidays it is okay to eat, but it's not a major theme.   Finally, there is the category of whether or not the holiday involves trees (like Tu Bishvat) where again the answers are "yes" or "no."  In many ways, it's just a fun and silly chart. In other ways, it is a reminder that the Jewish calendar keeps us VERY busy.  That is until the Jewish month of Cheshvan, also referred to as … [Read more...]