tasteoflife

My wife and daughter recently went on the trip with other Temple members and staff to Atlanta, Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham to learn about the Civil Rights Movement. I was amazed by their stories: what they saw, whom they met and what they learned in just three short days. (It also made it painfully obvious...Read more...

This February, Temple Shalom is celebrating JDAAIM: Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month in a very special way, with thanks and recognition of a newly remodeled sacred space that is warm, welcoming, beautiful and accessible.
In her High Holy...Read more...

Next week, we get to experience on of my favorite holidays – the 134th annual Groundhog Day. Based in absolutely no science, Americans everywhere will watch eagerly as a small woodchuck determines whether we will have an early spring or six more weeks of winter. Although I prefer to...Read more...

As we begin reading Exodus this week, we close the chapter of Joseph, who proved an invaluable member of the Pharaoh's court, so much so that he and his family are granted the best land and livestock in the region while Egypt is struck by famine. This narrative is contrasted starkly by...Read more...

Last Friday night, Rabbi Berry and I stood in silence with 5,000 Jews, who had gathered for the Reform Movement’s Biennial Conference. Every other year, thousands of Jews from across North America and around the world gather to learn, pray, share ideas, dance and sing,...Read more...

The story of our Biblical ancestor, Jacob, continues this week as he flees his home after employing some less than honorable methods to secure his birthright. The evening he leaves home, Jacob finds himself alone, and uncertain of what lies ahead as he travels to his uncle’s house in Haran. He lays down to sleep...Read more...

This Saturday evening, we will gather as a community to rededicate our sacred space. And as we do, I will remember that Joseph Campbell once remarked: “anything is possible on the other side of the door to a sacred space.”
In September, we saw this adage come to life as we entered our re-envisioned sacred...Read more...

For the past few years, a friend and I have been meeting regularly at a sushi restaurant in between our apartments. There’s nothing particularly special about this restaurant – it’s small hard to find, and there are only a few tables. But it’s our place.
Last week, something was different. The lighting...Read more...

The book of Genesis describes several new beginnings. It starts with a utopian creation in chapter one. God examines the creation and declares it tov (good) or tov  me’od (very good). There are no failures in this story. Next, we have a new creation story in chapter two. This creation story is not as...Read more...

Sunday night marks the start of Sukkot, one of the highlights of the Jewish year. I have always loved the process of putting up a sukkah, making it comfortable and warm, decorating it with leaves and fruits. I love to sit in the decorated sukkah and listen to the sounds of nature and feel the slight...Read more...

The Talmud teaches that Torah is black fire on white fire. The written text is black fire. Often, the meaning is hidden in white fire - our interpretation of that text. Our interpretive dance with Torah makes the experience of Torah wonderfully rich.

Sometimes, the words mean precisely what they say....Read more...

This week’s Torah portion, Ki Teitzei, contains 72 commandments, ranging in scope from the treatment of captives to birds’ nests. In this portion, we are told of the rights of aliens, the importance of giving charity and about fair weights and measures among many of other...Read more...

This Shabbat, we reach the end of the book of Genesis. We read about the death of our patriarch Jacob. Jacob dies not in his homeland (modern...Read more...