Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. The story of the Tower of Babel speaks for itself: Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. The story goes something like this:   A child approaches her parent and asks, “Where do I come from?” “Oh my gosh!” The parent thinks.  “This is the moment when my child wants to know about the ‘birds and the bees’!”  And so the […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we make our toward Shabbat and this week, Simchat Torah. It is said that the middle verse in the entire Torah is Leviticus 19:18. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.  The great rabbi of the Talmud (Shabbat 31a), Hillel, when asked to summarize the Torah, responded: […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way towards Shabbat and this week, the festival of Sukkot. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. It is one of the most beautiful prayers with its soothing images and appears in the Sh’ma and Its Blessing section at the end in every […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat and this week, Yom Kippur. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. It is never easy to hear someone say, “Your words have hurt me.”  “The way you acted belittled me.” “Your comment insulted me.” We want to give the […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way toward Shabbat and this week, Rosh Hashanah! You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. Actually, preparation starts now! Rosh Hashanah begins tonight.  The time remains the same every year:  the first of Tishrei.  The place this year is different, however.  Though the […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way towards Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. I share with you the sermon I offered last Friday night at Qabbalat Shabbat because I want as many of us as possible to consider the important impact the recent agreement to normalize […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way towards Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. The High Holy Days are approaching and filled with references to God.  The liturgy assumes God’s presence but for so many of us, the language can be troubling. Each year, I remind myself […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way towards Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. I share the words I offered this past week at our Temple Israel’s zoom program for the Reclaim Our Vote Campaign featuring Wanda Mosley from Black Votes Matter. 150 members of our community […]

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, our weekly reflection as we make our way towards Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast HERE. Integrity is a choice of how one wants to lead and to inspire. It also reflects the decisions one makes about one’s life. In this week’s Torah portion, Moses warned the Israelites that […]