Posts by Rabbi Nicole Guzik

As we once again start at the beginning of the Torah, some of my favorite pieces of midrash (rabbinic stories) emerge from our tradition.  A gem from Genesis Rabbah: God’s creation of heaven and earth can be compared to the following: A parable of a king who had cups made of delicate glass. The king said: If I pour hot water into them, they will expand and burst; if cold water, they will contract and break. What did he do? He mixed cold and hot water, and poured them in, and so they remained unbroken. Likewise, the Holy One said:…

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Last night congregants invited us over to dine in their beautiful sukkah. The food was delicious, company was great and our children enjoyed playing together. But the best part of the evening was when our host gathered his daughters onto his lap, each of us following suit with a child in our arms and proceeded to tell us a story. He explained that a few “Sukkots” ago, by chance he found himself alone in his sukkah, clearing up from the family dinner that occurred a few hours prior. And so he took the few minutes of quiet, sat down in…

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Arguably, truly listening to someone is one of our hardest tasks as busy human beings. Often we think that we can listen while multi-tasking. Doing laundry, checking emails, washing the dishes…listening feels like something we can do while engaged with something else. But try an experiment: listen to a loved one or a friend while multi-tasking and then listen to that person while focused solely on them. Sitting down next to them, looking in their eyes. You may have “listened” to the exact same words but guaranteed the person will feel both seen and heard the second time around. The…

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Tomorrow, our son, Zachary is turning three. I never really understood the dilemma of being a middle child. I am the oldest of four and there was always a playmate for a sibling. Teams were evenly divided; there was equal opportunity for each child to be teased. While the four of us may argue which child received more attention or which child always chose the evening family activity, I don’t think a kid felt lost in the shuffle. We have three children and while we try very hard to give each child the time they deserve, the “middle child blues”…

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It is the Friday before Rosh Hashana. For some of us that means final sermon preparations, printing, rehearsing, and making sure we know the correct cantillation for our Torah readings. For others it means preparing the apple kugel, ironing the table cloth, picking up meat from the butcher and polishing our silver candlesticks. And for most, it feels busy. Rushing to finish. Rushing to “feel” done. Rushing so that everything is perfect. And yet through the hustle, we forget to rush towards what is most important. The true essence woven within the Yamim Noraim—the Days of Awe. So in this…

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Tomorrow evening, we gather together for what is called Selichot: a night of petitioning God to remember us in this High Holy Day season. Often the days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur feel overwhelming…the amount of people, the pressures that comes with being called the “holiest time” of the year. Certainly Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur gives us the impetus to change our lives. But Selichot feels different. Selichot feels private. Meditative. Contemplative. If you need a real jump start for change, join us at Sinai Temple, 8:30pm, Saturday night. And as a prelude to the evening, let the…

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Getting “ready” for the High Holy Days isn’t an easy task. I don’t mean the writing of sermons or organization of the honors list. I am talking about soul work. Real work. Being open to repairing our wrongs and admitting where we have fallen and need to do better. Rabbi Yehoshua said, “An evil eye, the evil inclination, and hatred of others remove a person from the world.” I don’t take this to mean that God physically separates us when we engage in this behavior. Rather, when we let a grudge come between us and our community, we emotionally isolate…

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Last week, my husband and I asked my 26 year old brother to help us babysit our children. Specifically, we needed him to help us early Friday morning, so he slept over the night before. Now, remember, we have a 4 year old, almost 3 year old and 8 month old. In discussing what kind of help we would need the next morning, my brother looked at Erez and myself and said, “So what time should I set my alarm?” Erez and I looked at each other and just started laughing. In the last five years, we have never set…

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What music are you listening to? For the past three days, our children insisted on listening to every word from the soundtrack of the musical “Annie”. Our family enjoyed toddler renditions of “It’s The Hard-Knock Life”, “Maybe” and of course, the infamous “Tomorrow”. When listening to music with children, questions inevitably arise. We were asked hard questions: “Who are Annie’s parents?” “What happens to Annie’s friends?” Theological and philosophical questions ensued: “But why wait until tomorrow when the sun is out today!” And most of all, smiles and dancing and laughter followed as we know the Annie story feels good…

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This is a Bisl Torah on the go. Our family is traveling  throughout Philadelphia this week and spending time with loved ones. Diggerland, the Reading Terminal, Philadelphia Art Museum and other highlights are some of the stops on the trip. But of course, I insist that every trip to Philly includes a trip to the mall because of no sales tax on clothing. We save our back to school clothing sprees for these summer trips. As we drove to the mall, we were stuck at a traffic light for what seemed like an unbearable amount of time. We finally “woke” up…

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