Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. The Wilderness. That’s our focus as we open the Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Torah, and begin our journey through it. In Hebrew, it is called Bamidbar, the wilderness. It is a time and place of transformation for […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. The Liberty Bell sits in Philadelphia. It was meant to symbolize the resounding call of the Declaration of Independence. These words from Leviticus, which we study this week as our Torah portion, appear on its side: Proclaim liberty throughout the land for all […]

  Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. “Holy” can seem inaccessible, a transcendent, awe-inspiring experience beyond reach, too lofty for humans to attain. Jewish tradition teaches the opposite. Holiness resides in our hands, our hearts, our intentions, and our actions. Rabbi Chaim Stern offered that another way to think […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. This week in the Jewish calendar, we turn our attention to Israel. On Monday, we marked Israel’s Memorial Day, Yom Hazikaron, a day remembering fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, and on Tuesday we marked Israel’s independence, Yom Ha’atzma’ut, which was granted 69 years ago. […]