Over 80 phone calls, more than 30 Zoom-Video conference calls, in-person meetings, texts, visioning, and even a little daydreaming is about to bring together 170 teens and adults for NFTY-SAR Winter Kallah at Temple Emanu-El (and that’s just the time from our teens, not the rest of the region!). These teens are powerful, organized, smart, and courageous. These are the future leaders of our nation’s synagogues, future lay-leaders, board members, Temple presidents, community activists, and maybe even clergy. These are teens that will look back at their adolescence and note that their synagogue had a meaningful impact on their formative years. With direct mentorship from their rabbis (a unique feature of TE), the chance to learn from the leadership of the teen-led regional board, and incredible support from the NFTY-SAR professional regional staff, our teens have helped to build a weekend-long conference from the ground up. At its core, NFTY is a youth-powered organization that allows … [Read more...]

This week we entered into the Hebrew month of Adar, which is extra special to me because it is the month after which we named our daughter when she was born. It just seemed right. Primarily, because she was born in the month of Adar. But also because Judaism considers Adar to be a time where we can expect both joy and good fortune.  After all, Purim is in Adar, our Exodus began in Adar, and Jewish mystics hold that this month is one where amazing things happen to us regardless of the era. Jewish time runs on a solar-lunar calendar (as does the Chinese year) and so this new moon that marks the lunar new-year is one that indicates the beginning of a great part of our spiritual cycle. The days are getting warmer, the flowers are beginning to bloom, and we have some of the most fun and profound Jewish holidays on the near horizon. What a great name to give to a child who we knew would bring us so much joy, and hope. In Judaism names are important, sometimes optimistically prophetic while … [Read more...]

I just had an intense conversation with a congregant who is a friend, about her desire to infuse our basic Shabbat rituals, like lighting candles, with spirituality.  More specifically, she relayed to me that she was raised doing these rituals, but resented them, because they seemed void of ‘meaning’, and thus, she grew up resenting them.  This might sound familiar to some of you. What I suggested to my friend is to make an effort to slow those rituals down, and then to articulate the symbolism of the ritual.  With our Shabbat candles, this would involve gathering your family around you, dimming the lights, and letting a pregnant moment create some light drama.  Then a preamble, perhaps about bringing light into a world that can seem dark… or that we have the power to light the candle and thus, if we choose, are bringers of light.  The prayer, giving credit to God for empowering us with choice and allowing light to illuminate, can be explicitly credited as a metaphor for all the … [Read more...]