Chaverim, Last year, I began to cultivate a friendship with Reverend Jim Burgquist of Orinda Community Church, after he invited me, Rabbi Gutterman and the Shir Joy band to provide the music for his worship service one Sunday morning. That experience was so joyful, and so hopeful, that it dared us to dream of creating […]
Dear Friends, In Pirkei Avot, a section of the Mishnah which contains various Rabbinic sayings and teachings, one of them reads as follows: “”I have learned much from my teachers, more from my colleagues, and the most from my students.” This wisdom is truly being put into practice at B’nai Tikvah this month. On Friday […]
Dear Friends, This coming Shabbat morning, we will have the honor of hearing the weekly Haftarah portion chanted by a young woman becoming Bat Mitzvah. Thankfully, this is not a rare occasion in the life of our synagogue. However, the contrast between the words she will chant and the conditions of the world in which […]
Dear Friends, In Rainer Maria Rilke’s Book Of Hours, the poet refers to God as “the great homesickness we could never shake off.” There is something effortlessly resonant in that mysterious image for us, given the number of names and ways of referring to God that are part of Jewish tradition. Our God is at […]
My dear friends and community, Fourteen years ago, as I was considering taking my first pulpit at a synagogue in Walnut Creek called Congregation B’nai Tikvah, I had a life-changing conversation with Stephen Richards, our cantor emeritus. I was hoping for some assurance in talking to him about what my experience would be like if […]
Dear Friends, In this week’s Torah portion, Beha’alotecha, the Israelites experience a unique retrospective journey into their past, defined as it was by nostalgia and mythic imagination. Frustrated by their journey through the wilderness that seemed to be leading them nowhere, they fondly remembered the delicious food that used to be theirs for the taking: […]
Chaverim, The author Elizabeth Gilbert once said in an interview that she thinks that she and her sister ended up as authors because as children, they were taught how to do boring things for long stretches of time. And that out of the boredom grew creativity. How many of us remember the experience of waiting […]
Dear Friends, I write to you on the day before Erev Shavuot – that’s Shavuot Eve, the beginning of the festival which celebrates the revelation of Torah. We’ve been counting the days until this night – literally – as the days, then weeks of the Omer have passed. Now is our opportunity to reap that […]
Dear Friends, In his book Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us About Building Vibrant Jewish Communities, Rabbi Elie Kaunfer introduces the idea of auditory sacredness. What this can mean, he explains, is that being a part of what is sacred need not always be triggered by grandeur or expertly polished, manicured environments. We […]
Chaverim, At our Passover seder every year, we always try to bring a few new songs and readings to enhance the seder, while of course continuing to do everyone’s favorite melodies and passages to honor their childhood customs. It is such a wonderful way of keeping our family traditions alive, while also adding new […]
