Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin, spiritual leader of Temple Solel in Hollywood, Florida, recently shared an article about the future of religious leadership. In gleaning insight from the Megillah, he explains that clergy burnout (across faiths and denominations) can be avoided if one remembers to “center yourself on your goals, your ideals and your passions.”
A Bisl Torah
Flip the Script
We recently hosted 50 young adults in our backyard, making hamantaschen. I started the evening giving one of the reasons why we eat this triangular-shaped pastry.
Growing Older, Growing Up
A poem in honor of the Children of Ukraine
Yellow Roses
My Nana insisted on the presence of yellow roses at her funeral. When I asked my aunts, uncle, and dad why she loved yellow roses, the answer wasn’t particularly significant. She liked cheery, vibrant colors. She thought yellow brightened everything around you. And somehow, yellow roses have followed me since the day of her funeral.
Teaching Spontaneity
A friend was describing her experience in chaplaincy. The other chaplains-in-training felt very comfortable formulating their own spontaneous prayer. But she realized that even as a knowledgeable Jew, spontaneous prayer wasn’t something she felt trained in. Give her a siddur, no problem. But to pause in the middle of the day and start offering prayer felt foreign. And as I reflected on our conversation, I wondered if the point of a Jewish ritual structure is to make room for spontaneity.
The Courage to Build
Why would Moses keep the broken tablets?
Deep Breath In
In relationships, most of us are stuck in a typical behavioral pattern: we withdraw, or we pursue. When engaged in conflict, one of us (the pursuer) might push, nudge, prod, and poke until we get a reaction out of our partner. The other person (the withdrawer) proceeds to move inward, grow silent, sometimes choosing to flee, leaving the argument by leaving the room. There are moments where we find two pursuers face to face and other times, tensions rise as two withdrawers can’t bear to open dialogue.
Open This
A friend shared with me a story in which a rabbi was giving a blessing to the bar mitzvah boy in front of the congregation. The senior rabbi gave the child two gifts: a siddur and an umbrella. An assistant rabbi looked at the senior rabbi with confusion. “Why the umbrella?” The senior rabbi looked at the assistant rabbi with a perceptive look, “At least I know the umbrella will get opened!”
A Godly Check In
I recently came across a paper I wrote in rabbinical school. My theology professor Rabbi Neil Gillman, may his memory be a blessing, would ask each senior rabbinical student to describe the God they believe in. As I reread my paper, I realized that while I experience a development in each of my relationships (family, friends, community members), how little attention I have given to my evolving relationship with God. Perhaps it is time for me to revisit that assignment. How many of us take the time to evaluate our relationship with God?
Come Home
On Saturday night, I told my daughter, “It is ok to be afraid.” I couldn’t entirely shield her from the hostage situation at a Texas synagogue. She is old enough to know when her parents are worried and brushing off her fears would be akin to dismissing her. She wanted to know everything about the gunman. His name, his motives, his reasons for wanting to visit a synagogue. It became clear to her that although “Texas” feels far away, this was a person that came very close to harming a rabbi and his congregants. She has two parents as rabbis….
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