This Friday night, our services will be filled with the many voices of our congregation. You will especially hear the voices of Davis students as they join us in prayer and reflection, sharing with the community why they like to be Jewish. I often joke that one of my favorite parts of being a rabbi is that I get to be a “professional Jew.” By this, I mean that I live out my days trying to model an active Jewish lifestyle that projects the values and morals of our tradition in a 21st-century world. Sometimes that means teaching in the classroom, leading a congregation in prayer, or comforting a mourner. Other times, it involves talking to preschoolers about their views on God, playing Gaga with the fourth grade, or even taking our tenth graders to lobby their elected officials, all the way to their D.C. offices. So what’s my favorite part of being Jewish? Well, as a rabbi, it’s the ability to do every single one of those things in a single week. This week in particular, after the … [Read more...]
Who is like you, Adonai?
Michamocha Ba-elim Adonai? Mikamocha, ne-edar Bakodesh? Who is like You among the gods, Adonai? Who is like You, majestic in holiness? Midrash teaches us that Nachshon ben Aminadav cried out these words as he waded deeper and deeper into the Red sea. The Egyptians were coming up fast behind the Israelite people. They had two choices: walk into the sea, or turn back toward their slavemasters. Nachshon had an incredible amount of bitachon- trust. So much so that he waded into the water, crying out his affirmation of faith in God as the water rose to his chin, then as the water rose past his lips. Once the water rose past his lips, Michamocha sounded like MiKamocha. It was at that moment, when the water covered Nachshons airway’s that God split the sea. Nachshon, along with those who followed him into the water literally willed the sea to split. Their faith and trust was so powerful that the action of wading into the water literally created its explosion to either … [Read more...]
The Jewish Response to Hopelessness
For millennia Jews have been witness to acts of senseless violence, hatred, and inhumanity. In some cases, it was the Jewish community which suffered directly. In all cases the holiness of the human spirit was diminished. Even two thousand years ago our Torah recognized that the plight of the needy is as eternal as our covenant with God, “since there will never cease to be needy ones from amongst your land, therefore I [Adonai] command you to open your hands to your brethren, to the poor and indigent in your land.”1 Even though poverty and suffering are not something that we can permanently solve, our Torah compels us to act in the face of the seemingly impossible. To be a Jew means that we must look at the enormity of the task and take action. One of the ugliest ways poverty manifests itself is in hunger. Hunger is such a pernicious and existential threat that our great teacher Maimonides tells us that if a stranger asks us for food or water, we must provide it without question.2 … [Read more...]
The Winter Olympics are just like Shabbat and here’s why.
Each time there is an international tournament I get excited, maybe you have felt the same. It could be the World Cup, the Winter Olympics, the Summer Olympics, or practically any other, and suddenly I am COMPLETELY invested in the outcome of a sport I knew next to nothing about just a few weeks before. Curling, figure skating, bi-athalon, or luge, all of these become our world for a few weeks. Athletes of countries we know well or have never heard of are competing for personal and national glory on the international stage. That stage is the ideal for a world we’d love to see. Where competition isn’t a matter of life or death; rather, it is a game we play because we can live peacefully together as human beings. On Shabbat, we read a Psalm which imagines all of humanity living in Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden. In this paradise, Shabbat is not only a weekly relief, but it is the perfect rest that we all live in each moment of every day. War and strife are nonexistent and hunger and … [Read more...]
Elana Arian Performs at Temple Emanu-El’s Katz Family Artist in Residence
Part Mozart, part Mingus, part Mitchell, Elana Arian is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and composer. Utilizing mandolin, violin and jazz guitar, Elana creates and builds a depth of soul into prayer. Music and liturgy become one as layers and textures of sound produced by voices and instruments elevate everyone who hears her music. Elana’s musical accomplishments are not limited to the realm of Jewish music. She has produced two secular albums and is a sought after studio musician. Elana has played in some of the most famous houses of music across the country, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. She has the distinct honor of performing five different times at the White House. Guess what?! We are the next stop on the Elana Arian Artist in Residence tour. February 23rd-25th Elana will join us as a part of the Katz Family Scholar/Artist in Residence program. Friday Night Shabbat services with me, Elana, Rabbi Max and our choir are at 7:30pm. Saturday Night at … [Read more...]
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