Noach – 5780 “Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.’ -Genesis 6:9 Most of us are familiar with the Torah Portion, Noah (Noach in Hebrew). From a young age we learn how Noah brought each of the animals into the ark two by two. When teaching the […]
Host Family Schedule Here’s what people need to know: MAJYK stands for Mid-Atlantic Junior Youth Kallah. It’s a NFTY program for 6-8th Graders and takes place at Temple Beth Ami Dec. 6-8, 2019. We ask that each family host a minimum of 3 teens all of the same gender. Friday, December 6 9:30-9:45 pm […]
Bereshit – 5780 Genesis 1:1 – 6:8 “In the beginning, God created heaven and earth – the earth being unformed and void …” [Gen. 1:1-2] The creation story begins with two things: God and an unformed, chaotic universe. Eerily, this ancient story partially aligns with modern science. According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics (“entropy […]
Yom Kippur 5780 Words That Hurt, Words That Heal I recently heard about an usher for the high holy days. He greeted an older elderly woman who was visiting. He gave her a prayer book and walked her into the sanctuary. He asked her very politely, “Where would you like to sit?” She answered: “The […]
How To Build a Community that will Beat the Odds Sermon for Erev Yom Kippur – 5780 On Rosh HaShanah, I spoke about truth, memory, and the process of teshuvah to help each of us make the most of these Holy Days; and I challenged us to look at our perceptions and actions through the […]
Monthly Message fron our President Being Grateful Even though Thanksgiving is still weeks away, it’s not too early to think about all that we are grateful for. Our family has a particularly poignant story about being grateful and Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law was a teenager when her family had to hurriedly leave Germany immediately after Kristallnacht. […]
Rosh Hashanah 5780 – How to Fight Anti-Semitism Shana Tova! Tonight, we begin the year 5780. This past month has been filled with new beginnings—the start of the new school year, new personal endeavors, and new goal setting. Last Tuesday night, Rabbi Pokras and I met with our 30 new confirmation students. One of the […]
Truth and Teshuvah – Rosh HaShanah 1 – 5780 Good yuntif! It’s so wonderful to be together to welcome in the New Year. No matter how good or how difficult the past year has been, I pray that the year 5780 will be a better year … for all of us. This past summer, I […]
“Ki Va Moed,” proclaims the psalmist, “the appointed time has come!” [Ps. 102:14] These three Hebrew words are often used to introduce the beginning of Shabbat, but they especially ring in my heart at this time of year, as we gather together to celebrate a New Year, and search our souls for ways to be […]
