The Ultimate Narrative

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On July 23, 2021
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I share with you the d’var Torah I offered last week at Qabbalat Shabbat. It is one of the ways I have hoped to bring my experience in Israel home to you. Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. This week we begin a magnificent narrative through the eyes and […]

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On July 16, 2021
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. As I have shared over the past month, my experience in Israel for 10 days in early July gave me much to ponder. While I participated in the Hartman Rabbinic Leadership Institute, we studied many texts. I was intrigued to learn that Israel […]

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On July 9, 2021
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I left Israel last night. As I reflect on my 10 days there, I feel hope and despair at the same time. Such is the paradoxical experience of Israel. The war in May, its reasons, the impact, and the aftermath laid a substantial burden and concern on our discussions. Not only did bombs fly between […]

I am in Israel

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On July 2, 2021
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. I am in Israel. To be here now is to be thrust into a state of awe, anxiety, and a profound awareness of vulnerability. I feel safe. The streets are relatively quiet. The tourists are few. At the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, our […]

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On June 25, 2021
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. On Wednesday afternoon, I participated in a zoom meeting with a Knesset member of the new Israeli government. His role is historic. Rabbi Gilad Kariv, former CEO of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, is now a member of the Knesset […]

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On June 18, 2021
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Original sin is really not a Jewish idea. The story of the Garden of Eden and the events that Genesis details in the first chapters of the Bible is about the beginning of responsibility, of our human capacity to make choices regarding good and bad. It started with the two trees in the middle of […]

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On June 11, 2021
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. Last night, many of us joined together online and onsite to reflect on this past year at our Annual Gathering. In addition we had a peaceful transition of leadership from the remarkable and devoted Presidency of Marc Maxwell to Laurence […]

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On June 4, 2021
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way to Shabbat. How often is it possible to walk into the future in order to examine it? In this week’s portion, Moses sent, by “God’s command”, specific leaders of the community to enter Canaan to reconnoiter the land. We receive no impression while […]

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On May 28, 2021
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. We enter the depth of despair this week in our Torah portion. The former slaves worried about what they would eat in the endless wilderness before them. They wept as they reminisced about the bounty of food they consumed as slaves […]

Posted by Elaine Zecher
On May 21, 2021
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Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. My phone caught my attention right in the middle of dinner: a cease-fire after 11 long days of bloodshed, victims in the cross fire, and complex and difficult situations and circumstances. The […]

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Adult

Youth

The Ultimate Narrative

Three Potential Anthems for Israel

On My Way Home From Israel

I am in Israel

I Leave for Israel Sunday

Original Sin

Our Mission Endures

A Peek Into the Future

Who Owns antisemitism?

Searching for Grace