Co-written with Rabbi Leah Citrin With thanks to Rabbis Asher Knight, Susan Landau, and Miriam Farber Wajnberg for their edits and suggestions, and to Jeff Trost for patiently plodding the depths of the Grand Canyon with me. Most mornings, my commute sends me from Central Ave to Pecan to 7th to Laurel to Randolph to […]
With gratitude to Rabbi Leah Citrin for her thought partnership, Rabbis Asher Knight and Susan Landau for their editing, and Rabbi Judy Schindler and Cantor Mary Thomas for their contributions. Thanks, also, to Kayla Piscatelli for creating the graphics! Everything I know about community, I learned at temple. I grew up in a synagogue that […]
Two years ago, we experimented with a project that now, three years in, has become a beautiful tradition. Our #ElulBlog invites congregants to reflect on a variety of questions that speak to themes connected to the High Holy Day season. Throughout this month, authors of all ages will share their stories on our website as […]
Days like Sunday make me proud to be a part of our Temple Beth El community. One of the privileges of being me on Mitzvah Day is that I get the opportunity to move from project to project on campus, dropping in and seeing all of the beautiful cards, journals, bags, and pillows being decorated, […]
Every year, a little over a month after Purim and its revelry, we gather at tables – round tables, square tables, multiple tables cobbled together because we are too many to fit at one table. We gather to dip parsley and ask questions and tell the story, again. We gather to remind ourselves, and each […]
Every time I had a substitute teacher in high school, I braced for impact as soon as the poor unassuming sub took attendance. “Dustin? Dustin Klass?” “Here.” At this point, most teachers did a brief double take. The best just moved on, but some, having spent many years being tested by mischievous name-switching students, would […]
December is the darkest month of the year. It’s no coincidence that Chanukah, a holiday in which we are commanded to increase light each night, occurs exactly as our days become shorter and our nights become longer. The holiday season is full of that contrast, of moments of light and darkness. It’s in the joy […]
If you have been in the building at temple over the past week or so, you may have noticed a cut out of a person, painted purple, next to a bowl in the lobby holding a number of purple ribbons available to wear as an addition to your outfit. Every October, these ribbons appear in […]
With gratitude to Rabbi Leah Citrin for walking through this writing process with me every year, and to Rabbis Miriam Farber Wajnberg, Asher Knight, and Jay LeVine, Cantor Mary Thomas, and Jeff Trost for letting me think out loud with them. Video of this Sermon Something was wrong with Gus. The 700-lb polar bear at […]