Rabbi Guzik - A Bisl Torah

It’s a great scene in the Torah: angels of the Lord visit Abraham and Sarah. One of the divine emissaries explains that in one year’s time, Sarah will have a son. Sarah laughs to herself and says, “Now that I...

Just arriving home from Philadelphia, our children reminded us what it feels like to be parents to newborn babies. The past two nights, the kids have been wide awake at 3am, hungry for breakfast, leading their blurry-eyed mother and father...

This week’s Bisl Torah is featured in the Jewish Journal’s Table for Five. Genesis 8:20-22: “And Noah built an altar to the Lord, and he took of all the clean animals and of all the clean fowl and brought up...

In just a few days, Jews all around the world will gather together for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. We will sit in synagogue, listening to many of the same melodies heard and sung by our grandparents and great-grandparents. We...

I’m not a huge fan of heights. Understatement. I detest heights. Even when flying in an airplane, I pretend that I am somewhere else, concentrate on my book or a movie, and choose to forget how very high up in...

My heart continues to break as I watch the destruction in Texas. And yet, it continues to be resewn again as I watch community members and strangers reach out to the stranded, homeless, injured and fallen. So many stories of...

Will you find your melody? The beginning of the month of Elul forces us to come face to face with our mortality. In just weeks we will gather as a community, hoping to find prayers and words that match the brokenness...

It has been a distressing, troubling week. Globally, nationally, and personally for the Sinai Temple community, the sound of hearts breaking seems constant and unavoidable. In a recent exchange, someone remarked to me, “This is going to be quite a...

On August 21st, the world will be treated to a solar eclipse. But notably, a solar eclipse is usually paired with a lunar eclipse, this having occurred earlier this week. The moon travels through the outer part of the Earth’s...

Last week from the bimah, I shared a story about a magical moment that took place at Camp Ramah: I was asked to teach the Ezra staff. Ezra is the summer program at Camp Ramah for adults with learning, emotional...