In Torah we Jews are called, Or LaGoyim, A Light unto the Nations. It is both God's description of who we Jews are at our very core, and an aspirational challenge from God of what we might yet become. But it doesn't just happen.  We have to do the work to make it so. In my mind, Or LaGoyim, A Light unto the Nations, evokes the visual imagery of a spotlight cutting through the dark night, its peak melding into the heavens, its source right here on the ground. We at Temple Emanu-El are part of that source. Or, perhaps, the imagery for Or LaGoyim is a lighthouse, meant to guide against the winds of storm and rocky shores. We can be that light. However, I most like the light imagery for Or LaGoyim of the Havdallah candle, which is really several candles intertwined so that when lit, the wicks combine to become a torch. Burning bright. All of us together. A sense of purpose. Connecting us to our family, our people, our history, our destiny, and to Our Source. Here at Emanu-El, those wicks … [Read more...]

The other morning, I was listening to National Public Radio, when I heard a story about Charles and Willa Bruce. The Bruce Family used to own a beachside resort in the town of Manhattan Beach, California that was a haven for black Californians who faced endless restrictions under the racist Jim Crow laws of the time. After enduring countless acts of terrorism and racism at the hands of the KKK, in 1924, the California state government exercised eminent domain over the property at the behest of the white neighbors, stripping the Bruce's of their land, their business, and their fortune-a grievous act of injustice. A week ago, nearly a century after the state took the property, the California state legislature issued an apology and returned the property to the descendants of Charles and Willa Bruce. Certainly, that was the right thing to do even though it took far too long. This story brought me to a topic of our Torah portion this week, Noach, that we often study. Noach is considered … [Read more...]

Ecclesiastes (and Peter Seeger) are famous for reminding us that "to everything there is a season." Our sacred text continues…the Ecclesiastes one…  A time for being born and a time for dying, A time for… planting and a time for uprooting the planted; slaying and a time for healing, tearing down and a time for building up weeping and a time for laughing wailing and a time for dancing throwing stones and a time for gathering stones, embracing and a time for shunning embraces; seeking and a time for losing, keeping and a time for discarding; ripping and a time for sewing, silence and a time for speaking; loving and a time for hating; war and a time for peace.  We will move through these experiences as we begin again. We begin Torah again. As we rabbis like to say, "We re-read the Torah every year, and the text does not change, but we do."  Life doesn't thrive only in the planting or the uprooting, the wailing or the dancing. Life is what we do in between all that brings … [Read more...]

Sukkot is an odd holiday for many reasons, not the least of which are the shaking of fruit and plants for God's sake and the intentional construction of a flimsy hut. Under any other circumstances, being told to dwell in a poorly built structure while shaking flora from the Middle East would be a questionable request at best. Yet here we are, amidst the holiday of Sukkot in the new year of 5782. We have survived, thus far, an already vulnerable time in human history, where 1 in every 500 Americans has died due to COVID-19. Now, during these 7 days of Sukkot, we reinforce just how vulnerable we really are to the forces of nature. Sukkot has many lessons; however, the most important lesson of all is the reminder that only when we dwell with others, in community, can we find safety. Celebrating inside a flimsy, vulnerable structure seems paradoxical. We're susceptible to the weather, to animals, to mosquitoes especially, and even to people with malicious intent; yet, when we bring others … [Read more...]