Reflections for Elul: Kehilah – Community by Peter Blair
My mother and father married in the Summer of love, 1967. My mother grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and attended Rodef Shalom Synagogue, my father in Memphis, TN at Temple Israel. My older brother and I made it a family in the early 1970’s and the Memphis Jewish Community was our Kehilah. In the late […]
Building Community by Beth Di Nicola
Sometimes in life you need a community to uplift you. Sometimes you want someone to listen, someone who is in the same situation, someone who will be empathetic. When I moved with my family to Charlotte in 2011 and joined Temple Beth El, I didn’t know anyone. I had lost my mother at the […]
Shleimut/Wholeness by Sara Markovits
Sitting in front of my boss, reflecting on my past school year, the truth rang forth: Sara, I think that this really shook you. It was almost like your soul had been broken. She was absolutely right. After six years of teaching, I had hit a wall. Hard. To say that the societal events of […]
Shleimut/Wholeness by Philip Schreibman
“Wherever you go, there you are.” It’s no accident I show up wherever I go, right? Whether in Target parking lots, the hallways at work, or with my family, I don’t forget to bring an appendage or lung. And if I make a wrong turn I’m still all there – wherever that is. Is that wholeness? […]
Shleimut/Wholeness by Rabbi Morton Kaplan
Often, the anticipation of an event brings more pleasure and meaning than the event itself. Our expectations are more than the event can provide, and then the real world interrupts what pleasure or meaning we hoped to derive from our vacation or lifecycle celebration. Happiness, contentment, joy, the sense that our lives have worth and […]
Am I whole? Am I at peace? by Rabbi David Powers
If a person loses a limb can they be whole? If so, what about two limbs? If one cannot be whole with a lost limb, what about with a broken limb? Or a broken heart? Or a fractured soul? Although grateful that I have all my limbs and, apart from tonsils, all my organs, like […]
Perfect the Way You Are, And A Little Broken Too by Rabbi Asher Knight
The TaNaKh (Hebrew Bible) is filled with Jewish leaders who lived their lives with various types of physical disabilities and emotional struggles. Isaac suffers from blindness. Jacob walks with a limp. Moses delivers the book of Deuteronomy, including this week’s Torah portion, with a stutter. Naomi, Saul, and Jonah struggle with depression. Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel […]
Help the Hurricane Harvey Recovery by Rabbi Asher Knight
As the full magnitude of the devastation created by Hurricane Harvey becomes clear, we are working with the Union for Reform Judaism and other partners to mobilize support for all who have been impacted by the powerful storm. Right now, the desire to help is outpacing the mechanisms. In the coming weeks and months, the […]
R’fuah/Healing by Anonymous
My healing began with a knock on the bedroom door. Many knocks, actually. A few soft taps at bedtime one evening, then the next night, and the next. That gentle rhythm has signaled the end of the day for most of my adult life. If you ask me in the morning if I’ve consciously heard […]
