If nothing else, this past months’ worth of parshiyot has made one thing clear...God is a detail fanatic. Everything in God's house has an exact place, an exact measurement, a perfect set of assembly instructions. The instruction manual for the Tent of Meeting, the Mishkan, and its contents that

Do you know why we dress the Torah the way we do? Ever looked closely at the decorative clothing and wondered about the story behind it?  When I take classes or groups to see the Torah, they’re always so fascinated by the scroll itself: the materials it’s made of,

I’ve had two settings of a prayer on repeat lately as I listen to music on my way to temple. The prayer begins “Ilu finu malei shirat ka’yam,” “If only our mouths were as full of song as the sea…” and the composers are Miriam Margles and Josh Warshawsky.

Dear friends,   2024 is around the corner, and as we come to the end of this calendar year we are conveniently coming to the end of Genesis too. Parashat Vayechi concludes the saga that brought us from Abraham to Joseph, from Eden to Egypt, and it is a wellspring

When I was growing up, we had a tall, narrow, vaguely stable Chanukiah. Often, we would light it on the dinner table, recite the blessings, and then move the menorah not to the windowsill but to the kitchen sink. We had an electric menorah by the windows, lighting up

In the 1990s, the book “The Five Love Languages” tried to teach us how different behaviors communicate our commitments to one another. Those languages were words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. Each different language had the ability to bring someone closer to their

It is said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. When philosopher George Santayana wrote a version of these words in the early 1900s, he was hoping to write a treatise to convince people to act with morality without the need or influence

Dear Friends,  This Shabbat we have the additional blessing of celebrating two holidays in one: Rosh HaShanah and Shabbat. Writing this before we even begin the holidays, I still know that our celebrations will be wonderful. They’ll be filled with warmth, joy, and spirituality. We’ll celebrate with family, music,

I’m pretty sure it was a coincidence: I was getting ready to write this week’s Shabbat message on Parashat Matot-Masei and the symbolism of the cities of refuge. On my way to the computer, however, my toe caught the corner of the desk. Ow! And, just as much as

This week we are relearning a difficult lesson: achieving a goal is less important than the process of achieving said goal. The story of Korach's rebellion against Moses and Aaron serves as a poignant reminder that our focus should not solely be on the outcome but on the journey