Rabbi Guzik - A Bisl Torah

Addressing the silent child (This Bisl Torah was featured in this week’s Jewish Journal) This year, I’m most concerned about the silent son in the haggadah, the child who doesn’t know how to tell the story. It means the rest...

As participatory as High Holy Day services may be, it sometimes feels like a show. The pristine nature of the adorned, white Torahs. Everyone dressed to their finest. The operatic, enchanting voice of the Cantor bellowing out Kol Nide. You...

At morning minyan, it is a Sinai Temple tradition for a congregant to give a little singing solo into the concluding words of Aleinu. Every Shabbat, I watch another congregant touch her loved one’s yahrzeit plaque as if she is...

The main investor of Beresheet, the Israeli spacecraft that launched in February to land on the moon, addressed 18,000 people at the AIPAC conference. “One day, I wasn’t feeling well, and paramedics checked my blood pressure. I told the paramedics,...

I am often asked the question: Why did you become a rabbi? Usually, I respond with a story about Jewish identity and what it was like to grow up Jewish in Orange County. But that isn’t actually a real answer....

Who saw the butterflies?   This past week, almost a billion butterflies migrated through Southern California on their way up the coast. The “Painted Ladies” flew through the air, catching the eye of adults and children alike. Over and over...

An educator recently asked a group of Sinai Temple congregants, “This past week, when did you find a moment in which you felt the strength of community?” Each person answered with a different, poignant, positive response. One of the participants...

Who sees you?   When a caterpillar sheds its cocoon in becoming a butterfly, there is a feeling of release, an exultation of being free. No longer shielded by the cocoon, we admire the raw beauty of the butterfly and...

What is true wisdom?   Last week, our Torah explained that those selected to build the Tabernacle should be chachmei-lev, wise of heart. Not artistic. Not crafty. Not even mathematical or punctilious with detail. Wise of heart.    Rabbi Chaim...

Our flight home from Florida to Los Angeles was filled with bumps and the kind of drops that caused my stomach to flip more than once. I asked the flight attendance how she felt and she said this flight was...