Yom Kippur 5782

YOM KIPPUR

By Rabbi Dr. Douglas Goldhamer;

A central theme of Yom Kippur is teshuvah, repentance or return to God. And within the command to do teshuvah in Parshat Nitzavim, which we read in our temple on Yom Kippur is the verse, “Vahashevota el levavecha” “And you shall return to your heart.” (Deuteronomy 30:1) The Torah considers the heart as our “God Connection.”

Rabbi Norman Lamm emphasizes […]

By |2021-10-15T16:04:38-05:00September 10, 2021|Jewish Holidays|0 Comments

A Kavannah of Hanukkah

by Student Rabbi Roberta Glick

There are 2 themes: gratitude and tsheuvah that I want to talk about today with regards to Hanukkah. Hopefully something old and something new for everyone.

We sometimes think of Hanukkah as a “minor” holiday, maybe celebrated to balance against another big holiday in December. And we know Hanukkah is about a war that the Jews won against the Greeks, against […]

By |2018-12-06T20:40:33-06:00December 6, 2018|Jewish Holidays, Jewish Meditation, Kabbalah|2 Comments

Hanukkah and Our Highest Self

My Grandson recently said this about his twin Aunts:

“Whenever I see a tree it always feels deep inside me that I am earth.

And when I am with Beth and Ella it feels like they are earth with me.”

While this haunting call to Oneness comes from the heart of a six year-old, philosopher Ken Wilber also calls us to mindfully live in the light of […]

By |2018-12-03T18:46:48-06:00December 3, 2018|Jewish Holidays, Kabbalah|0 Comments

Malchyot Reflection

by Student Rabbi Dr. Roberta Glick

Malchyot: Kingship.  What relationship does that word evoke in you?

Is it the “radical amazement” of Heschl trying to explain the awesome mystery of the transcendent Divine Presence?

Is it the fear and trembling of judgment, like Adam when he heard the kol of G-d who asked: “Ayekah? Where are You?”

Sometimes we need a Malchyuot, someone else to be in charge. […]

By |2018-09-13T18:19:03-05:00September 13, 2018|Jewish Holidays|0 Comments

In the Space of Tekiyah: Reflections on the Start of 5779

By Student Rabbi Stacey Z Robinson

This is about the 19th iteration of my personal reflection.  The 19th of today, and the 19th written down.  There have been infinitely more than 19 iterations playing in my head, ever since I was so kindly asked me to write one for Rosh HaShanah.  Knowing what I want to write has not been the issue.  Getting it right, finding […]

By |2018-09-11T19:32:02-05:00September 11, 2018|Jewish Holidays|0 Comments

Water and Fire – Unetaneh Tokef

By Student Rabbi Stacey Z Robinson

Ribbono shel olam,
Master of eternity,

Who numbers the stars
and the dust,
Who counts our souls –
our deeds –
our days.

You, who remembers
what time has forgotten,

Who writes and seals –
though we tell our own stories,
and live our own lives –
Blessed is the One
Who opens the gates
that we, ourselves, have closed.

God of stillness and secrets,
whose name is hidden
within our own,

Let me draw near
so that […]

By |2018-09-09T20:16:26-05:00September 9, 2018|Jewish Holidays|0 Comments

Intend — by Student Rabbi Stacey Z Robinson

I had intended…

Wait. Let me start again, this time in the present. I intend…

Ugh. I have no idea what I intend, what I had intended, what I will have intended.

What I know is that I love the English pluperfect– past, present and future, all rolled into one. Even more than the pluperfect tense,  I love that in Hebrew, we consider not necessarily past, present or […]

By |2018-09-06T15:32:54-05:00September 6, 2018|Jewish Holidays, Weekly Torah Portions|0 Comments

Even Adam Kvetched About the Long Winter Nights!

We all know the story of Hanukkah. But, there is another narrative that many of us don’t know. Last week, Hebrew Seminary faculty member Rabbi Daniel Vaisrub taught us a lesser known story that prominently features Adam.

The better known Hanukkah story is derived from the Babylonia Talmud, Shabbat 21b. The text tells us that the Greeks entered our Temple and defiled all of the […]

By |2017-12-14T21:10:46-06:00December 14, 2017|Jewish Holidays, Kabbalah|0 Comments

Rosh Hashana – Taking Root With You!

Sefer Assiyah
The Book of Making

September 2017

Recently, on an extraordinarily mild and sunny day in Chicagoland, I went to a nature center with my son and grandson. We peered and searched through aquariums, terrariums and pools of water — home to local critters. We spent a lot of time with the turtles – who knew they were such adept communicators when stressed out with their […]

By |2021-06-28T13:31:00-05:00September 19, 2017|Jewish Holidays, Kabbalah, Torah|0 Comments

Be a Light, Come What May

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks observed that silence connects the Torah portion B’midbar and the celebration of Shavuot. It is the silence of the desert that counts in Judaism.  “Listening is the supreme religious art.” Having said that, Sacks reminds us that in Exodus 24:7, “’All that God says, we will do and we will hear [ve-nishma].’ It is the nishma – listening, hearing, heeding, responding […]

By |2017-05-30T15:39:49-05:00May 30, 2017|Jewish Holidays|0 Comments

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