This Saturday evening begins the Jewish holiday of Tu Bishvat (the 15th of the month called Shevat), which has been dubbed by some as "Jewish Earth Day." Although we do not emphasize it enough, Judaism has deep roots (pun intended) to environmental conservationism. Some of the most celebrated rabbis throughout our history have made it a point to protect our natural surroundings and have professed that the most profound of spiritual encounters happen in nature when we have this particular mindset. Tu Bishvat, and its message of natural renewal, very much speak to me. Caring for the Earth, and protecting it against human short-term gains, is a top priority for my attention and time. I cannot emphasize this enough. So it is with pleasure that we celebrate, what the sixteenth century Jewish mystics called, 'the birthday of the trees,' over the course of several days here at Temple Emanu-El. Our Friday night Shabbat services aim to teach, celebrate, and inspire us around this sacred part of … [Read more...]

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...]

At Temple Emanu-El, we teach our teens that Judaism is supposed to extend to all areas of life. We should not confine our Jewish identity to the home or the synagogue; rather, we should bring our Jewish values to school, work, and even in Congress! For over twenty years, Temple Emanu-El has brought countless teens to Washington for a weekend conference called L'Taken. The name of the conference comes from a core tenet of Reform Judaism, "L'Taken et HaOlam b'malchut Shaddai," to heal the world in God's name-or as we say, "Tikkun Olam." As Jews, we are obligated to take our world from a place of brokenness to wholeness. The work of Tikkun Olam must happen on a personal level, and we are responsible for the healing of our world on a grand scale. We know that one of the most effective ways to influence positive change in our country is to exercise our rights to lobby our elected officials. Throughout the weekend, our teens learn how to view the problems we face as a nation through a Jewish … [Read more...]

Tomorrow night at Shabbat services we will delve into MLK's influences, including our Exodus story.  One of the most poignant episodes, that have shaped not only Dr. King's life, but the history of modern western civilization, concerns two Jewish women from Torah, Shifra & Puah. Thousands of years after their story was recorded (Exodus 1:8-20), we continue to speak about them because they dared to stand up to Pharaoh, a dictator who was both ruthless & cruel. The book of Exodus begins with: "there arose a new king in Egypt who knew not Joseph."  This new pharaoh forgot how Joseph saved the Egyptians (and his own family) from famine.  All he knew was that there was a foreign people, the Jews, living in Egypt who were both numerous and strong.  And so, Pharaoh enslaved them, and set them to work building his cities under the crack of the whip.  But the work only made us stronger…  So Pharaoh sent for the two Jewish head midwives, Shifra & Puah, and commanded them to … [Read more...]

Perhaps my favorite part of our Temple Emanu-El sanctuary (aside from the good people who gather there) are the doors to the Ark.  From the congregational seats, you can see the shapes and colorful garb of the Torah scrolls protected by the doors' intricate metal adornments.  Each door has six separate panels, with an image that represents one of the B'nei Yisrael's 12 tribes, each one's name scripted in Hebrew cursive… Asher…Nephtali…Benjamin. Some have said that the panels, strung together, resemble Jacob's ladder (from his dream in Genesis 28).  This would make sense as your eye is carried to the top of the ark doors, to the hanging Ner Tamid, representing the eternal soul of the Jewish people, which is encased in an image of Jacob wrestling with the angel.  This is how he gains the name "Israel", and from there we inherit his spiritual DNA. Each image on the sliding ark doors, contained inside its panel, is taken from this week's Torah portion, Vayechi, which … [Read more...]