We learn this week “There was a famine in the land.” The Torah asks us why this needs to be mentioned? There were famines before. Nachmanides explains, “Aside from the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham: Perhaps there had not been a famine in the whole world until the days of Abraham (Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 26) and therefore the Torah counts from then. For what is the need to mention this? And the correct answer in my eyes is that they remembered that first famine and they told each other about it.” There have been…
Honorable Mensch-ion
Forward
As we honored Veterans Day, our son taught us the custom of how veterans wear the American Flag. In order to create the image of the flag flying through the breeze, the flag is worn on the right shoulder, backwards, giving the same effect as the wearer moves forward. In times of a pandemic, a divided country, and so many other challenges we face as individuals and as a global community, this image is powerful, reminding us that we must find the sparks to do exactly that: move forward. This week, we also lost a giant in the Jewish world,…
Just Challah
Choosing a challah is not an easy choice these days: Belgian chocolate chunk, cinnamon sugar, kalamata olive, and pretzel are only a sampling of the challot you can have on your Shabbat table. When I grew up in, it was simply challah….or challah. Last night, Sinai Akiba Academy participated in the worldwide challah bake. Over 100 families participated, with the same ingredients in their homes as we learned the history and halachot around challah. We know that the Shabbat table mirrors the mizbeach, the Temple’s altar in Jerusalem. Our Torah teaches that when Abraham invites the angels into his tent,…
Go
When I was in 3rd grade, I learned the parsha Lech Lecha. The Rabbi looked at my classmate and shouted, “Go, Avraham, get out of here!” My friend, named Avraham, got out of his seat, and quickly exited the classroom, not realizing the Rabbi was quoting the parsha verbatim. During these interesting times, we have very few places to go. Travel is limited, we work from home, we connect over a screen. And yet, there are so many places that we can go. As Abraham journeys towards the promised land, the Torah tells us: haloch vnaso hanegbah, He travelled toward…
The Ark
John Huibers, from the Netherlands, took 4 years and 2 months to build a replica of Noah’s Ark, which he dreams of one day floating to the land of Israel. While each year we read the story of Noah, from the flood to the ark to the rainbow as a metaphor of how to improve our moral lives, it does not go unnoticed that we have all built our own arks in the last 8 months. However, we have also left our own sacred arks: synagogues, schools, places of gatherings. We have brought our families, our animals, our most prized…
Something From Nothing
Over the past six months, we have learned to find joy during challenging times. For each Bar and Bat Mitzvah, we have created a ritual called kabbalat ha-Torah, where we deliver a Torah scroll to the family’s home. For the first time, the child puts on the tallit, and has an aliyah to the Torah, the official marking of Jewish adulthood. A recent Bar Mitzvah family decided to do something unique. In Kohn Chapel and the Ziegler Sanctuary, we have already established pulpits with custom-made tables to hold the Torah while it is read. A few weeks ago, a mother…
We Finished…And We Begin
The sigh of relief when we finish a giant project is often the best feeling of the experience. Yet, when we finish the annual reading of the Torah, the most exciting part is what is yet to be. The last word of the Torah is Yisrael. We evolved from individuals placed on this earth into a sacred people, tilling God’s garden and fixing the world. The first word of the Torah is Bereshit. Each year as a people we begin again. Our Rabbis teach kol hatchalot kashot, all beginnings are difficult. Once we have started, it is much easier to…
Sukkah Clouds
Eating in a sukkah with a winter coat and gloves was the norm growing up in the northeast. I grew up to believe that a sukkah provided warmth even on the coldest days. As an adult eating in a sukkah in extreme heat, my children are taught that a sukkah brings shade even on the hottest days. Fortunately, our tradition teaches us that my childhood self and my adult self do not contradict; we are both right. The covering of the sukkah symbolize the annei kavod, clouds of glory that God would protect the Jewish people with in the wilderness….
Return Again
Have you ever returned to a familiar place from your childhood and it does not look the same? Everything looked bigger and brighter when we were children. Over the years, our life experiences chisel away the ideal and create the real. Just look back to last year. Full sanctuaries, face to face, shaking hands, and hugging. This year; empty pews, screen to screen, and no personal touch. Yet, we did it! For the last five days, the clergy at Sinai Temple have received emails and calls, astounded that our community could connect and feel close, with the miracle of technology….
Shana Tova
As I write these words, the night has fallen on the day before Rosh Hashanah. I open the mahzor, like seeing an old friend. It feels so familiar, words recited by my parents, and their parents. Just three generations ago, in Poland. Two generations ago in Philadelphia, one generation ago in New York, and now I stand here in Los Angeles. The locations change, the environment changes, the world this year has changed as we know it. And yet, the page numbers remain the same, the melodies remain the same, and the traditions remain the same. Tonight, we will raise…
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