Mishkan HaLev: Trying Out the New Selichot Service
Selichot is the overture for our High Holidays, a chance to focus on meaning, tradition, faith, and striving to reach that spot in the heart where no one else can go.
How Can We Forgive the Unforgivable?
In theory, no one wants to be that person who can’t let go, who refuses the request for forgiveness. But is it really possible, or even right, to forgive everything?
What Can We Learn About Elul From the Lone Ranger?
Earlier this week, we marked the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul when it is customary to take stock of our actions and behaviors in an effort to do better in the year to come.
Understanding the Significance of the Akeidah for Modern Jewish Thought
The New Year is a Chance to Realign Our Actions with Our Values
How can we hold ourselves accountable for our actions? How can we follow through with changing our own lives?
Facing Mortality and Choosing Life
You stand this day, all of you, before the Eternal your God – you tribal heads, you elders, and you officials, all the men of Israel, you children, you women, even the stranger within your camp, from wood chopper to water drawer – to enter into the cov
It Shouldn’t Take a Pandemic to Return Us to Ourselves
The Nudge of Selichot
After 10 weeks of swimming, biking, walking at the ocean's edge, and rationalizing that it's too hot for tennis, Saturday night Selichot services appear on my calendar as the call back from the freedom of su
How Tikkun Olam and Pikuah Nefesh Will Help Me Prepare: A #BlogElul Post
Last week I had lunch with a rabbi friend who told me he’s in the midst of preparing four different sermons for the upcoming High Holidays.
Carrying our Temple's Torah Scrolls to Safety
That photo is of me, carrying Congregation Or Ami's two Sifrei Torah on the Las Virgenes bridge over the 101 Freeway in Calabasas, CA. I had just carried the two scrolls from our synagogue building, away from smoky fire.