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Posted by tisrael
On August 30, 2019
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See, I place before you blessing and curse. These words begin this week’s Torah portion. It seems pretty straightforward. In the wilderness, Moses tried to prepare the people before they were to cross over the Jordan River. He even used visual aids, which is what we used before PowerPoint presentations. From their vantage point, they could see […]

Posted by tisrael
On August 23, 2019
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we approach Shabbat. I try to imagine the atmosphere around the big rectangular wooden table next to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office. I was there once, allowed in with other Reform rabbis to argue for progressive rights and recognition. The conversation was tense then, but civil. This time, it could […]

Posted by tisrael
On August 16, 2019
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. When you were younger did you learn that the Sh’ma is the “watchword of our faith?” Taken from this week’s Torah portion in Deuteronomy (6:4) and utilized in the liturgical context, it is a declaration and an instruction combined. But what […]

Posted by tisrael
On August 11, 2019
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So what do we do? How do we live, and how have we lived, from summer weekend to summer weekend, from month to month, and year to year, century to century amid circles and circles of sorrow? Whether personal, communal, national or global, how do we live and how have we lived when it seems as if we go from destruction to destruction to destruction, from grieving to yearning to wailing?

Posted by tisrael
On August 9, 2019
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. They thought God was dead. It was around 70 CE. The Roman forces had surrounded Jerusalem in preparation to conquer it. The Talmud (Gittin 56a) shared the details. What did Titus do when he conquered the Temple?…He took a sword and cut into the […]

Posted by tisrael
On August 2, 2019
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. Know where you came from, where you are going, and before whom you will give an accounting and reckoning. (Pirkei Avot 3:1) According to Pirkei Avot, the ethical teachings of the rabbis of the Mishnah, the road map to divert one […]

Adult

Youth

Choose

Conundrum

Watchword

Circles and Circles of Sorrow

Words and Death

Reckoning