Shabbat, paired with the onset of winter, presents an interesting combination of opportunities and challenges for a progressive, living-in-two-civilizations community like ours. The pull to observe communally may weaken, whether your preference is to hunker down to stay in and cozy, or to take off to the hills and rinks at every opportunity. A few […]
At an event recently where I am known as a rabbi but was not functioning as a rabbi, I had occasion to make fun of myself. “Don’t worry,” I joked, “I’m always ready to talk … I’m a rabbi!” There is one big topic, though, that everyone seems to be talking about these days … […]
How do we mark Love? What about Creation – birth, plantings that grow, ideas and plan we seed? Where do we put our Regrets, our commitments to change? And how, with all of these, do we share the experience of our observance? In other times, our ancestors may not have exercised choice in these matters, […]
(based on a text by Rabbi Dan Wolpe) Mekorenu Eloheynu/Our source, our God, Over the last few months, there has been so much horror. A deep increase in acts of hatred, storms that are flooding and destroying cities and taking human life, fires that are devastating communities in this country, earthquakes, ongoing genocides. We won’t […]
Exactly 12 years ago, as the effects of Hurricane Katrina were soaking into our consciousness, many faith-based messages ensued, along with information about where to send donations for relief. Among my colleagues, we discussed how to share pastoral messages without ignoring our politically-informed awareness about the human failings that led to the scope and impact of […]
It’s been a season and summer of crazy. Issues of parades and flags and race intersecting, and none too comfortably. And then … Charlottesville. Next week is Pride Week in Ottawa, and I’m sitting with lots of questions: How do we name the crossroads where we meet each other next week? How and why are […]
With the overlap of Passover, Holy Week and Easter this year, it is even more tempting than usual to look at the ritual, spiritual and communal similarities and differences between the two religions. Ritually, the external forms of Judaism and Christianity diverge significantly, just as they do at any time of the year. However, the […]
Rosh Hodesh, literally the head of the month, refers the new moon. Jewish months most often begin in the middle of our Gregorian months, giving rise to those confusing calendars, with the Gregorian date in one corner and the contrasting Jewish calendar date in another, which begins on the previous evening. This Jewish year, as […]
Those of us who have siblings, and those of us who parent more than one offspring, have a particular challenge in our lives. It plays out through circumstances that may appear mundane, yet illuminate an issue that is both profoundly human and deeply sacred. When my two children were young, there was a fair bit […]
Each November the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College hosts a three-day gathering for prospective students. This past fall’s Institute began on November 9, the day after the American presidential election, which had been preceded by a long season of acrimonious campaigning, and a deteriorating civil discourse. In this article about the event, several biblical figures and narrative threads are […]
