Posts by Rabbi Nicole Guzik

  It is common for a rabbi to be familiar with death. When someone in the synagogue passes away, our hearts grow heavy, for community becomes akin to family. We discuss mourning rituals, theology, and ways to help loved ones connect to the souls of those that have continued to the world beyond.    But when a rabbi’s classmate, another rabbi dies, it almost feels as if the world has tilted. Everything is a bit off balance. Someone that has spent his life comforting, mentoring and teaching others is no longer with us and it just doesn’t seem right. It…

Read this post

We try to read with our children at night. Each kid chooses a book and as part of the bedtime ritual, we wind down with stories about dinosaurs or Lego characters. For the very first time, our kindergartner said, “Let me read the book to you.” Did he get every word? No. Did he understand the entirety of the story? Not even close. But our hearts soared because it was as if he took a key, unlocked a door, and started walking towards the edge of an entirely new world. A world of imagination, discovery, creativity, possibility and wonder. When…

Read this post

Around this time of year, the secular world prepares for an influx of chocolates, palettes of red and pink, roses, and a scurrying to secure both a date and restaurant reservation for February 14th. While we remember that Valentine’s Day originated as a pagan holiday, one can’t help asking the question, “What’s love?” Is love receiving heart-shaped cards with corny rhymes? Is love proclaiming the auspicious words, “I love you” before the other person has a chance to say it first? Is love getting breakfast in bed, a plate adorned with flower petals and champagne flutes? Maybe. Maybe Not.  …

Read this post

This week, I met with a bar mitzvah family to discuss the upcoming simcha. In the middle of our conversation, we were interrupted by running feet and talkative voices coming through the wall. I explained that my office is adjacent to the hallway. Come 3pm, the hallway is like a subway station. Students, teachers, parents, strollers, laughter, high fives, and embraces come from every direction. It is understood that from about 3-3:30pm, the synagogue and garage are packed with people of all different ages. The father of the bar mitzvah smiled and said, “I actually can’t think of a better…

Read this post

When preparing challah for Shabbat, we separate a piece of dough, reminiscent of the offering given to the Kohanim. While the act connects us to thousands of years of tradition, there is also something liberating about separating in order to feel more complete. We even offer a blessing during this act of separation. Meaning, it is praiseworthy when we recognize what should remain integrated within our lives and what needs to be thrown away.   In order to feel a sense of wholeness, from what do you need to separate? What needs to be cut out?    For many years…

Read this post

  This week, the world lost someone incredibly special. Hedy Orden was a pillar of our community, someone whom despite every odd placed against her, built a legacy of hope for the Jewish world. Surviving the atrocities of the Holocaust, Hedy and her husband, Ted (zichrono livracha) created a family that embodies a personal mission to ensure the continuity of Judaism and a flourishing state of Israel. Their family spends endless days, months and years finding ways to reinvigorate our communities, aid the distressed and reimagine a Judaism for the next generation.    And yet…my heart is broken because Hedy’s…

Read this post

Recently, thousands of people around the world finished daf yomi. Daf yomi is a seven and a half year cycle of reading a page of Talmud every single day. The idea is that the world is connected through a prism of study, each of us threaded together through our learning and growing.   Now that the cycle is starting over, Facebook and Instagram are bombarded with people wanting to delve into the daf yomi adventure. Rabbis and teachers posting tidbits of learning to keep themselves on track. Podcasts inspiring budding learners to stay committed to this Talmudic endeavor.   Sadly,…

Read this post

Winter break was spent introducing my children to my favorite childhood movies. We watched “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “Home Alone.” This week, my dad and I reveled in glee as the Guzik-Sherman children watched the original, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” And they loved it. Even with the scary oompa loompa songs…they loved it.   But I forgot about the character, Grandpa Joe. Grandpa Joe is seemingly bedridden until Charlie brings home one of Willy Wonka’s five golden tickets. Grandpa Joe holds the ticket in his hand, learns that Charlie needs a companion to the Chocolate Factory, and…

Read this post

When is the best time of your life? My kids love the ride at every amusement park that allows them to be the “driver”. When they can sit in cars they maneuver, steer the wheel, push the gas and crash into someone else. At the end, at some parks, my children even receive a license for driving. And their reaction is always the same, “I can’t wait until I grow up!” And my internal reaction is always the same, “You want to grow older and every adult…we just try to find ways to grow…younger.” Meaning, children desire later bedtimes and…

Read this post

Our world feels very dark. The murders that took place at the kosher supermarket in New Jersey, the desecration of Nessah Synagogue here in Beverly Hills, three college students attacked for being Jewish at Indiana University, and most recently, vandalism and graffiti at American Jewish University, among other Jewish institutions.    Hate begets hate. Insecurity and ignorance rise from the shadows and breed malice and fear.    But if there is one lesson to be gleaned from the Jewish people it is this:   The darkness of the world only magnifies our sparks of light. The light of blessing. The…

Read this post