A Broken Halleluyah
Rabbi Koby Gruenwald z”l died this past Friday, January 19, survived by his father and mother, sister and brother. His bereft congregation and community mourned his loss this past Sunday. He was 13 years old. Rabbi Koby is remembered for the dignity and kindness he extended to all who crossed his path, his exuberance for […]
Naming Rights: What Name Will You Adopt for 2018?
Have you ever had this thought: “I am never going to get those 30 minutes back?” It may be more time or less time, and the regret may be over watching a video or reading a blog, engaging in a conversation, argument, or fight that went nowhere, or choosing to take the other highway only […]
Evening the Evening: A Practice For Winter’s Darkness
Have you ever been in a desolate area, on a cloudless night, enveloped by darkness and look skyward at the vast expanse of stars? Darkness is a contrast to light. Despite it being counterintuitive, darkness is an illuminating highlighter in the same way that absence makes the heart grow fonder. The Book of Radiance, Zohar […]
Humaneness
Leave it up to humans to language benevolence toward animals as “humane” and a lack of compassion as “inhumane.” It reflects that tendency humans have to see things (only) from a human-centric point of view. Knowing what we now know of the benevolence and compassion of many animals for other animals, species-specific or for other […]
May You Live to 120
Have you heard of the 110 club? This exclusive club boasts no annual membership fee and has only one criterion— you remain alive. Violet Brown of Jamaica was the eldest member of this club until her death last month at the age of 117. Predeceased by her son, Harland Fairweather, who died last spring at […]
Never Doubt the Power of One
Kabbalah entreats us to look for origins, to journey back and discover the source—the seed that starts the flow which results in an outcome. When you square a number, it has an “exponential” effect (32 x32 =1024) but when you square the number one you return to the source—back to “square one” because 1×1 still […]
Colorful Vibrations
Kabbalah is a study of unseen reality and unseen potential. If we limit ourselves to experiencing the senses of the physical body we perceive only a fraction of the world that we can connect with, feel and know. Science has been an incredible tool to uncover what is beyond our normal senses. When early humans […]
Racist Uniformity
We learned that Nazi websites had posted a call to burn our synagogue. A frail, elderly woman approached me as I stood on the steps in front of our sanctuary, crying, to tell me that while she was Roman Catholic, she wanted to stay and watch over the synagogue with us. At one point, she […]
Beyond Reasonable Doubt
The differing standards of proof for criminal and civil cases is well known. While civil cases require a preponderance or balance of probabilities, criminal cases require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. How though does “beyond reasonable doubt” translate? No doubt that reasonableness and doubt are in the eye of the beholder—or in our justice system […]
Damn Nation
Senator Bernie Sanders made headlines this week for challenging a statement made by cabinet nominee Russell Vought that “Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ, His Son, and they stand condemned.” There was a swift response denouncing Sanders’ supposition that this kind of […]