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Enough

I have never talked or heard about toilet paper so much in my life. I have also not been to as many grocery stores.

I am saying out loud now: I. Have. Enough.

We are living in a stressful time; of course, my mind is telling me that I need more, this is a natural reaction to stress, fear, uncertainty, and challenge. “I need more!” My mind tells me. I need More time More money More control More…

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Ease during COVID-19

Some thoughts I sent today to Congregation Beth Am – Buffalo Grove, IL.

These are times of considerable uncertainty and anxiety. I am feeling it myself; actually, that is, when I don’t ‘catch’ myself and remember to breathe and to take it easy. It is not so easy to do, I know. I was in Costco (with the rest of the world) yesterday, lines were a block long, and it felt surreal: I could not…

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Suing the Nazis: A Rosh HaShanah Sermon

Suing the Nazis: A Rosh HaShanah Sermon

In my early twenties, I dreamt a version of the following dream many times:  I was a young adult in a Nazi concentration camp, and I was trying to save young children and babies from extermination. The dreams always ended before I found out whether I lived to tell the story or if I perished with the ones I was trying to rescue or even if I was able to save anyone. Of those nightmares, I only…

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Staycation

A staycation is code for not spending a lot of money.  A staycation is a code for staying in the cold and snowy, damp and dark  Chicago winter instead of soaking in the warmth of the ocean and eating tacos at the condo in PV.  A staycation is code for we will all be home together. All. Home. Together. A staycation is a code which says to the teenagers in the house ‘there are no time-limits on…

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We Mourn. We Get up. #SolidarityShabbat

Here is a sermon I delivered Friday night November 2nd,  one week after eleven Jews were murdered at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Shabbat Morning.  The sermon was delivered from an outline, written-out a touch more fully here.  

The Lord Is Close to the Broken Hearted (Psalm 34:19)

It is with sadness that we come together on this Shabbat. It was supposed to be a November…

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Witness. Feel. Act.

Chol Ha Mo’ed Sukkot Sermon offered at Congregation Beth Am,  September 28, 2018

I want to share about this momentous time we are in  our Country.  We are at a crossroads.  Never before has there been a supreme court justice elected into the lifetime position along party lines.  To my knowledge, we have not seen or heard the partisan politics, the animosity, the lies, the campaigning, the crying,…

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Do Not Despair: A Yom Kippur Sermon

Do Not Despair: A Yom Kippur Sermon

  There is cable news station that is often on in my house, or on my Sirius XM radio in the car… until someone tells me to turn it off. I don’t have a lot of time to listen or watch the news, but over the course of the last few years, I have almost obsessively turned on this station whenever I can.  It is actually problematic because the news often puts in a despair.

This has been a difficult…

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Kol Nidre: You Have Permission

Kol Nidre: You Have Permission

[To the tune of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood theme song] It’s a beautiful eve in the sanctuary, a solemnly evening in the synagogue. I’m glad you’re here, I’m glad to share, this holy day with you.

I was 36 years old when Mr. Rogers died. I hadn’t watched him in decades, but I did think of his loving messages from time to time, especially when Kyle and I were talking about raising our own family.  I…

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Why I joined The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

Why I joined The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

On a hot summer August day in 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stepped out of his car and was greeted by a mob of 700 angry white protesters in Marquette Park on Chicago’s southwest side. Shortly after he stepped forward to greet that mob, he was pelted with a rock on the side of the head, the force strong enough to bring him to the ground. Undeterred, Dr. King rose up and continued his…

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On our last day, we went to Masada and the Dead Sea.  We rode camels and will soon have a festive dinner together on our last night in Israel 2017.  On Masada, we offered mourner’s Kaddish for a dear relative of one of our participants, we gave a Hebrew name to another and we officially welcomed another member of our tour into the Household of Israel.

What an incredible pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  For most of us, visiting Israel has been on our minds and in our hearts for a very long time.  We arrived.  We climbed mountains (and tons of stairs!), walked on 2000-year-old streets,  said prayers at the Kotel, the Western Wall, saw calm where there was once war. We learned about the complexities of a small land that so many of different beliefs, opinions, actions and traditions treasure and love with all their hearts and souls. Together we heard about the struggles for freedom.  We laughed a lot and also cried. We began each day on the bus together with the blessing Modeh/Modah Ani…Thank you God for a new day, with love and compassion You give us this day. You have with great faith in us and we, You.

What a blessing this trip has been.  We are all so very grateful.

    Celebration On our last day, we went to Masada and the Dead Sea.  We rode camels and will soon have a festive dinner together on our last night in Israel 2017.  

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Out of Darkness

On the short bus ride to Yad VaShem (The Jewish People’s living memorial to the Holocaust), Lana asked us to imagine a room that would fit 100 people, then think of a space that holds 500 people, a 1000 people and maybe you have even been to a football game where 150,000 were in attendance, keep going and see if you can imagine a space that would hold 1,000,000 and then 6 million.  It is…

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Shavua Tov! Just landing from a truly wonderful Shabbat and pre-Shabbat tour.  Friday morning we went to the Ayalon Institute near Rehovot.  The website explains it best: “Next to the Rehovot Science Park, on Kibbutz Hill, stands the Ayalon Institute, which tells one of the fascinating and mysterious stories in the history of the struggle for the establishment of the State of Israel. Here, beneath the ground, and right under the nose of the British, a factory was created for the production of 9mm bullets for the Sten submachine gun, which was the personal weapon of Palmach fighters. The factory lay eight metres below the ground and was the size of a tennis court. The task was assigned to the members of the Scouts A group, who were joined by others, a total of 45 young men and women. The site operated under complete secrecy from 1945 until 1948, a period in which over four million bullets were produced.”  Amazing!!

Then we headed to Machne Yehuda–the fruit, vegetable, nuts, halva, and anything else you want or need  market and where Nathan was happy to have a chance to put on Tefillin.  Lucy was proud to tell this Hasidic gentleman that she had her Bat mitzvah with her brother but does not want to wear tefillin….

After lunch at the very crowded market we made our way back to the hotel and then off to share Shabbat with a reform congregation, Kamatz. Our tour guide Lana is on the Board of Director’s and her congregation and Rabbi Alona Nir warmly welcomed us into their beautiful sacred home.  They are a special community, and I loved praying with them.  They explain on their website:

“A Reform Jewish presence is crucial for the future of Israel. Between a fully secular Israel completely detached from its religious roots and values, and an uncompromising Halachic state, lies a middle ground, a third way- an Israel rooted in the prophetic Jewish values of social justice, equal rights, compassion, pluralism, and tolerance. This is our Jewish and Zionist vision.

Our egalitarian, upbeat and joyous services create the sacred moments necessary to balance the tensions inherent in Israeli life and offer you, our friends and partners from around the world, a home away from home whenever you are visiting Israel.”  I hope you will visit them.

Lana introducing us to her community.

Dinner was back at the hotel with two lone soldiers (IDF soldiers who do not have family in Israel) and then to sleep.  Today was spent with dear Israeli friends whom I have known for close to 35 years!  And finally, tonight was another fun evening.  We walked to downtown Jerusalem and on Ben Yehuda Street ran into two of Beth Am’s finest, Simon, now a rabbi who is also visiting Israel and Erin a 1st-year HUC student living in Jerusalem for the year.  Pride and Joy!!  And still, we met others we know too.  It has been a wonderful two days.  Feeling so fortunate.

Shavua Tov! To a good week!

Shabbat Shavua Tov! Just landing from a truly wonderful Shabbat and pre-Shabbat tour.  Friday morning we went to the…

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A call for a day of rage, a tekes/graduation ceremony for tons of Israeli soldiers, a walk on a 2000-year-old sidewalk, a stop to get free WiFi and a toasted cheese bagel. Women peering over to the men’s section of the wall to see a Bar Mitzvah on the segregated Western Wall, a reform Bat Mitzvah nearby at Davidson’s arch, melodies, drumming, clapping all merging as one.   An Arab selling bagela, an orthodox elderly woman wails while holding on to the wall.  Midday we stand on the very spot that is holy for four religions–the very same spot!!!

Connection, fear, bewilderment, awe, tears, prayers, disbelief, faith… Jerusalem…the City of Peace is hardly a city of peace.

Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. And then go and work for it.

Today…a most remarkable day.

Blessings from Jerusalem.

A Divided City A call for a day of rage, a tekes/graduation ceremony for tons of Israeli soldiers, a walk on a 2000-year-old sidewalk, a stop to get free WiFi and a toasted cheese bagel.

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Liberating Judaism

“When we fight against the monopoly, we are actually liberating Judaism for all Israelis and since this is the fastest growing Jewish community on the Planet, it is a worthwhile fight.”  Anat Hoffman speaking to our Beth Am Tour this evening. After a beautiful morning looking at hundreds of thousands of cranes and over 400 bird species at the Hula Nature Reserve–a most important wet habitat in…

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What a difference two years makes.  Standing only 40 miles away from Damascus, we looked out from the Golan Heights into Syria.  Today, the U.N Guards were looking at their cell phones and only occasionally into their high powered telescope pointing towards the 4th largest city in Syria.  When last here we were witness to a brutal, full-scale siege in the Syrian civil war.  Standing on the very same platform today, we saw only beautiful landscape and heard nothing but the sound of the tour guide’s voice.  Gabi remarked two years ago that she knew if people did survive the siege, they would never have their homes to return to and most likely become refugees and be bounced about unwanted by anybody.

4 Miles from Damascus

UN outpost

Lana, our guide, did speak about the refugee population and their horrific situation.  We shared that Congregation Beth Am has adopted a Syrian refugee family and it has changed the lives of a few Beth Am families who work closest with them.  There is a GoFundMe page for the Alatrash Family and we are making a great effort to help ensure their self-sufficiency in the next year.  We were inspired to help this family and we will be exploring more about the refugee crisis in the future.  We have to be part of the solution! 

Before the Golan was a small hike at the Tel Dan Nature Reserve, then lunch and a visit to beautiful Safed/Tzafat, where we learned about Kabbalah while sitting in the Caro Synagogue,  did some shopping and then dinner was back at Kibbutz Goshrim.

What a great day inspiring me to work harder for immigration rights and to also help take care of the Alatrash Family as much as I possibly can.  If you are able to help, please learn more about them here.

Blessings from the North

    4 Miles From Damascus What a difference two years makes.  Standing only 40 miles away from Damascus, we looked out from the Golan Heights into Syria.  

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Silver Platter We started the day with a lecture and discussion on the complexities of Israeli society and culture with Professor…

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Day One:

It was a truly beautiful day filled with awe-inspiring moments, facts, tours, descriptions, long walks, new sights and smells and… a day that required stamina and patience.  See, there was a massive labor strike in Israel over the proposed layoffs of 1700 workers at Teva Pharmesutials, the largest generic drug company in the world and every segment of the population in Israel was affected by the strike, including the airport where the passport workers struck from 8am-noon.  This mayhem and other odd travel adventures resulted in plenty of exhausted, weary travelers and changes to our Day 1 itinerary.  While waiting close to 2 hours in the airport for the second half of our group to arrive, Gabi, my 16-year-old mentioned that one of her favorite sayings is Se’mu Lev: Pay heed.  Pay Heed–Pay attention, don’t miss anything and everything is important! Pay heed–we might not have planed the day the way it turned out… but don’t ‘zone’ out, don’t miss it, even if you don’t like it.  Se’mu Lev: Be where you are. Be present.

There is a beautiful Piyut, liturgical Poem Odeh LEl which perfectly expresses the idea of Semu Lev: Pay attention to your own soul. She is beautiful and calls to you.

One of the stops we made today,  Independence Hall deeply touched my soul. On this 6th night of Hanukah, the retelling of how David Ben Gurion declared Israel a state was reminiscent of the Maccabean struggle.   Our museum docent was incredible and the story of the founding of this Country in the midst of war, hatred, alienation, and destruction is quite simply… a miracle.  At the end of the tour we sang Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem and there were tears shed by many of us.  Although words today like “homeland” have great political conotations, I also recognize that Israel was born out of great necessity and remains a haven for Jews fleeing hatred and persecution. When paying heed to this story I can feel the miracle of the birth of the State of Israel in my kishkes–from deep within.

Also,  knowing that for one-day thousands and thousands of Israelis went on strike and shut down the country today in solidarity with 1700 people also reaches me and reminds me that sometimes, family does support family.  Yes, not always, in fact not even most of the time here, but every so often, they get it right.

Se’mu Lev~ today was indeed a day to pay heed.

Greetings from Tel Aviv.

Se’mu Lev: Pay Heed Day One: It was a truly beautiful day filled with awe-inspiring moments, facts, tours, descriptions, long walks, new sights and smells and...