The transition to retirement has been surprising. After years of working at 110% (on a slow week), I was looking forward to continuing some of the work I’d grown to love — only at a sane and relaxed pace. After years of not having nearly enough hours to come close to fulfilling all of the […]

This summer I spent eight weeks teaching water safety to a bunch of preschoolers at the Downtown Seattle YMCA. This free program offered to the community to help reduce the number of drowning accidents is particularly near and dear to my heart after working in a pediatric ICU for many a “drowning season.” For the […]

Many a day as I’m stretching on the pool deck getting ready for my swim, I tell one of my lifeguard friends, “Don’t get old. Just hold where you are. It’s not worth it.” And then I continue trying to work out the soreness in the shoulders before I get into the water. The truth […]

  When kids ask me whether some of the more fantastic or contradictory stories in the Tanach are true, I usually respond by asking them whether they go to annual family reunions. For those that do, I ask whether they hear the same family stories year after year, often told by their grandparents or their […]

It started off like any other vacation. A crazy week of Shabbat prep mixed with a crazier week of travel prep. Friday night services and then rushing home to pack. Several pre-dawn cups of coffee on Saturday while wrapping up things at home and loading the suitcase into the car. An early morning swim before […]

One of the things I love most about Temple Beth El is the degree to which our teens assume responsibility for the work we do as a congregation. They are highly skilled and dedicated teachers and worship leaders. They are an integral part of many projects that benefit the community and are proud representatives of […]

  When I was in cantorial school in the 90s, there was great consternation and hand-wringing about how “camp music” (used as a derogatory term) represented the dumbing-down of the rich heritage of Jewish music, and would ultimately lead to its demise. After four years of having that dire warning drummed into my head, it […]

  One of key features of Judaism is the emphasis on community. We celebrate as a community. We mourn as a community. We pray as a community. We work and play as a community. We gather as a community for a variety of functions. This December, we have two special communal gatherings. The first is […]

Congregational Shabbat is an energetic, highly participatory, multi-generational Shabbat morning series of activities, food, and worship designed to engage the great diversity of our Temple Beth El community. Beginning nine years ago, we adjusted the b’nei mitzvah calendar so that we could devote one Shabbat morning each month during the academic year (October through May) […]