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14 September 2023 | 28 Elul 5783
Rosh Hashanah 5784
Title: Focusing our Hearts
By Emily Rogal (MHWOW Jewish Life Specialist)
Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 3:7 poses the question: what "counts" as hearing the blast of the shofar? If one blows a shofar in a pit/cistern/jug and they hear the blast, it counts as fulfilling the commandment, but if one only heard the echo, one has not fulfilled the requirement. Similarly, the Mishnah* relates, if one passes by a synagogue and hears the shofar, they have not completed their spiritual requirement, unless they have "focused their heart."
The Rabbis are setting out a challenge for us: It's not enough just to hear the call of the shofar - you must let yourself be moved by it, too. The shofar is the cosmic alarm clock that is meant to awaken us to the mystery and beauty of Creation, while also reminding us of our responsibility to take care of the world, each other, and ourselves. In this time of climate grief, political turmoil, and personal heartbreak for so many, it can be hard to open ourselves up, to focus our hearts on the task of waking up.
The blast of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is our call to wake up, to love this delicious and painful world, and to recommit ourselves to focusing our hearts once more.
Shanah tovah u'metukah - a sweet and happy new year!
* “The Mishnah is the first major work of rabbinic literature, consisting of teachings transmitted over hundreds of years and compiled around 200 CE. It covers agricultural, ritual, civil, criminal, and Temple-related laws, presenting a multiplicity of legal opinions and incorporating occasional stories. It is a foundation of the Jewish oral tradition, which continues with the Talmud, a work that is structured as commentary on the Mishnah.” (Sefaria.org)
17 September 2023 | 2 Tishrei 5784
Tzom Gedaliah
Title: Who Even Was Gedaliah?
By Caleb Bromberg, Jewish Life Specialist
Tzom Gedaliah, the Fast of Gedaliah, is one of the minor fast days on our calendar, and is perhaps the most enigmatic. Like most of the minor fasts, it commemorates part of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the fallout thereof. In this case, the Temple had already been destroyed by the Babylonians and much of the Jewish elite exiled from Jerusalem. Gedaliah was a Jewish General appointed by the Babylonians to oversee the remaining Jewish population. So, despite his appointment by the enemy, Gedaliah represented the last bit of Jewish autonomy and power in a time otherwise marked by national tragedy and powerlessness.
Gedaliah, the story goes, was assassinated by a fellow Jew either out of zealous anger (‘how could you work for the enemy!?’) or because he was paid off. Either way, it marked the end of any semblance of Jewish self-rule in that period and is seen in some ways as the ‘completion’ of the Temples destruction. Furthermore, the Rabbis of the Talmud*, in their discussion of Tzom Gedaliah (b. Talmud Rosh Hashanah 18b), say that part of why we fast for Gedaliah just as we fast for the actual destruction of the Temple is because the murder of one righteous person is similarly tragic to the razing of our holiest site. In case you’re interested in reading more, Biblical accounts of the tale of Gedaliah can be found in Jeremiah chapters 40-41.
* “The Talmud is the textual record of generations of rabbinic debate about law, philosophy, and biblical interpretation, compiled between the 3rd and 8th centuries and structured as commentary on the Mishnah with stories interwoven. The Talmud exists in two versions: the more commonly studied Babylonian Talmud was compiled in present-day Iraq, while the Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in Israel.” (Sefaria.org)
24 September 2023 | 9 Tishrei 5784
Yom Kippur
Title: A Day For Covering Over and Moving Forward
By Rachel Dubowe, Jewish Life Specialist
“Kaparah, the Hebrew word for atonement, means a covering over. The idea is not that atonement effaces our sins. It cannot. They will always be there, along with everything else we and everyone else has ever done[...] When we make atonement, kaparah, we are covering over our wrong doing with the will to behave differently. While this does not efface our previous behavior, it may, in fact, redeem it. More importantly, it allows us to move on and let go of the past. Our behavior is still out there, and will always be, but we are no longer attached to it. We no longer need to feel guilty or angry about it. We no longer need to feel as if we have failed. [...] We have coerced that over with a fresh act of will.” - Rabbi Alan Lew, This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared
Yom Kippur is our collective chance to not only recognize our sins from the past year, but to redeem ourselves for the year ahead. It is not often we are given the chance to be so introspective, making this chag (holiday) not only very challenging, but also very rewarding. It is hard work to sit with what you’ve done wrong or where you’ve messed up…and as Rabbi Lew reminds us, once we can atone, our attachment to these negative actions are forever changed.
What sins are you letting go of this year?
What actions are you no longer going to feel angry or guilty about?
How will you show your atonement, or your fresh act of will?
28 September 2023 | 13 Tishrei 5784
Sukkot
Title: Internally Grounded, Externally Connected
By Elyssa Hurwitz, Jewish Educator
There’s a Mishnah I learned at a Sukkot dinner a few years ago about what each of the pieces that we hold and wave together represent, and it's still one of my favorite ways that Judaism is a physical embodiment of our lives. This commentary says that the four species represent four different parts of the body that we use to connect with the people around us, God, and our Jewish community. The lulav (date palm) represents the backbone, and it is a symbol standing tall in who we are and the centrality of God in our lives. The hadas (myrtle) represents the eyes, and it is a symbol of how we look at the world. The aravah (willow) represents the lips, and it is a symbol of how we speak to each other and what we say. The etrog (citron) represents the heart and is a symbol of how we feel and act. All four of these parts of us can be used to connect with people and to God, and Sukkot gives us the opportunity to critically think about how we use them – and how we want to use them moving forward.
In the same way that the shofar represents our voices and cries throughout Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when we don’t know how or what to cry for anymore, the lulav and etrog represent our bodies and how we use them in the world. Sukkot is an opportunity to ground ourselves internally with these pieces of our body and externally with the people and world around us. The ḥaggim are filled with so many ritual opportunities to connect to our voices, bodies, hearts, and souls, and remind ourselves that to everything there is a season and a chance to turn, turn, turn.
5 October 2023 | 20 Tishrei 5784
Simchat Torah
Title: A Time to Rejoice, A Time to Dance!
By Rachel Raz, Jewish Life Specialist
“Simchat Torah was born when Jews had lost everything else, but they never lost their capacity to rejoice.” (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks)
On Simchat Torah, without being commanded by any verse in the Torah or any decree of the Rabbis, Jews throughout the world sang and danced and recited poems in honor of the Torah. They were determined to show God, and the world, that they could still be ach same’ach (joyous). It would be hard to find a parallel in the entire history of the human spirit of a people capable of such joy at a time when they were being massacred in the name of the God of love and compassion.
A people that can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and still rejoice is a people that cannot be defeated by any force or any fear.
Simchat Torah is the last holiday of the Jewish month of Tishrei. With prayers and dancing, the yearly cycle of reading the entire Torah is completed.
What is the essence of this day? What is the reason for such joy? The Admor Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter said this: "Someone watching from the outside would think we are happy because we just finished reading the Torah, but the truth is we are happy because we immediately start reading it all over again, from the beginning." (Sivan Rahav Meir)
Do you agree with the Admor Rabbi Yitzchak Meir? What do you think this joy is all about?
What brings you joy?
What excites you?
Where do you find joy in the Torah?
22 October 2023 | 7 Cheshvan 5784
Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
Title: Life After Love (and the High Holidays)
By Emily Rogal (MHWOW Jewish Life Specialist)
We find ourselves in the month of Cheshvan, a Hebrew month that - in my opinion - gets a lot of flak. Frequently prefixed by the word mar, bitter, the month is predominantly known for what it doesn’t have - any Jewish holidays (except for Shabbat). For me, this time coincides with the onset of autumn around me - trees erupting into brilliant shades of red and yellow, the trees of the apple orchard heavy with fruit, blazing fires at night on the river with friends. But fall also reminds us that winter is not far, and soon, we will be forced to physically turn inwards into our homes.
Like the trees beginning the process of shedding their leaves, Cheshvan shows us that there is something important about tuning into the emptiness and digging deep into it. Jewish tradition teaches that our ancestor, Rachel, died in the month of Cheshvan, and there is - even today - a tradition of making pilgrimage to the site of Rachel’s tomb in Bethlehem.
In this way, this month also asks us to tune into our grief - to notice who and what is not here at the changing of this season, and to find ways to bring them with us. Pilgrims to Rachel’s tomb will often tie a red cord around her grave marker, and then tie the same cord around their wrists or bellies. We bring the memories of those we miss with us, just like the warmth of summer lives in our hearts. Perhaps this loss - this emptiness - is why the Jewish tradition teaches that Cheshvan, the supposed empty and bitter month - will be the time when the world-that-is-coming will finally arrive.
12 November 2023 | 28 Cheshvan 5784
Sigd
Title: Sigd: A Beta Israeli Holiday
By Emily Rogal, Jewish Life Specialist
The Jewish month of Ḥeshvan features the holiday of Sigd — a day observed by the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) community, a group which lived in near isolation until Israel assisted in air-lifting many members of the community in the late 20th century. In the Beta Israel tradition, Sigd (meaning “prostration” in both Ge’ez and Aramaic) is the day of receiving the Torah. The holiday always takes place 50 days after Yom Kippur. Many Jews observing Sigd will fast, celebrate, and read excerpts from the Tanakh.
In modern day Israel, the Ethiopian Jewish community has been working hard to establish their rituals and traditions as valid in the eyes of the rabbanut (Israel’s religious authorities). In 2008, Israel established Sigd is a national holiday, with a ceremony held at Armon Ha’Natziv, overlooking the old city of Jerusalem.
Whether or not we are of Ethiopian descent, we can find inspiration and hope within Sigd. Central to Sigd is the idea of longing for Jerusalem, for a place that is safe and holy, even amongst the greatest of odds. Perhaps this Sigd we especially need to turn our hearts towards the violence in the Middle East so that peace and wholeness may be felt by all.
For more info on Sigd, as well as recipes to try and videos to watch, click here.
13 November 2023 | 29 Cheshvan 5784
Rosh Chodesh Kislev
Title: Protecting our Hearts
By Rabbi Loren Berman, Jewish Life Specialist
We are entering the month of “Kislev”, which the Chasidic masters interpret as, “pocket (kis) for the heart (lev)” - an annual reminder for us to take care of and hold onto our hearts. And boy, do we need that right now.
We’ve been through a lot this last month. Tragedies of today – like the “Black Sabbath” (Shabbat HaShachor) of October 7th and the ongoing loss of innocent life in Israel and Gaza – and tragedies of yesterday – like the 4th yahrzeit / anniversary of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, and the 12th yahrzeit of peace-pursuing Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, who was assassinated by a fellow Jew.
As Jews, we are responsible to stay aware of current events and not lose sight of those of the past. As Jews who seek justice and embody empathy, we need to let stories of pain and suffering break our hearts open, but we need to hold onto the broken pieces, too.
Kislev is the month of broken hearts, but also of dreams and of hope: the dreams of Joseph about whom we read this month, and the hope of the Maccabees who defeated the Greeks and had the fortitude to light the Menorah in the face of destruction and defilement. Joseph and the Maccabees experienced tragedies and fears of their own, but they never lost their ability to hope and dream.
May we each take time this month to protect our hearts and keep our hopes and dreams alive.
6 December 2023 | 23 Kislev 5784
Ḥanukkah
Title: Sharing the Hanukkah Lights
By Rabbi Shari Shamah, Jewish Life Specialist
The lights of Hanukkah are once again calling to us. The promise of a fresh Hanukkiah (menorah) that isn’t yet clogged with the wax of 44 candles (the total number of candles for one Hanukkah) and eight nights of Hanukkah celebration await. According to the Talmud, the mitzvah of Hanukkah is to light the lights at sunset and put it in a window to “publicize the miracle” of Hanukkah. Both ideas are expanded in the rabbinical discourse on the matter (Talmud, Shabbat 21b) and offer lessons for our Moishe House observance.
Question number one: What happens if you aren’t home from work right at sunset? The rabbis say you should light from sunset until traffic in the marketplace ceases. And what time is that? When the people of Tadmor left the marketplace. They were the ones who sold kindling and remained later than everyone else. Therefore, if you want to wait until your housemates arrive home so you can light together, perhaps just assume they have a little Tadmor in them and light when you can.
Question number two: With the rising antisemitism in the world, should we follow the Talmud and put our hanukkiah in the windows to advertise that we’re Jewish? This answer is multifaceted. On the one hand, we want to display our Judaism boldly and proudly for all the world to see. On the other hand, only you know your neighbors, your surroundings, and what feels safe. Some areas of the world are more tolerant than others. The rabbis alluded to this. They added that in times of danger (i.e., when it wasn’t safe, or allowed…) then it is sufficient to place it on the table. This year Hanukkah feels different, the need to celebrate being Jewish is real. Each of us needs to embrace that in the way that feels most authentic to us. With so much darkness in the world, the lights of Hanukkah allow us to share the light for ourselves, our communities, our colleagues, and our friends.
How will you share the light this year?
Is there a way to share this light with your neighbors?
What do you need light to enhance in your life right now?
How can we light for those who are unable?
11 December 2023 | 28 Kislev 5784
Chag HaBanot
Title: Lifting Up the Light of the Women who Redeem Us
By Rabbi Sofia Zway, Base Los Angeles
Here’s a fun fact about Hanukkah: it is the only Jewish holiday that straddles two months, Kislev and Tevet. Some Jewish communities in North Africa and the Middle East (most notably, Tunisia) celebrate the 7th night of Hanukkah as Rosh Chodesh L’Banot, also known as Eid Al Banat, or Chag HaBanot, Festival of the Daughters. While Rosh Chodesh, the new moon, has historically been associated with women, the beginning of the month of Tevet marks a unique celebration of the role of women in the redemption of the Jewish people. Three historical women associated with this holiday include Queen Esther, Hannah the Macabee, and Judith. Each of these women takes bold steps to enable the liberation and redemption of the Jewish people.
As Queen of the Persian empire, Esther uses her status to persuade the King to save the Jews from Haman's planned genocide. Today, she remains the celebrated hero of the Purim story. Hannah, daughter of Mattathias the Priest and sister of the famous Macabee brothers, redeems the Jewish people by inciting the rebellion against the Greeks in protest of a harsh law that required all Jewish women to spend their wedding night with the Greek governor. Judith ends the Greek siege of Jerusalem by seducing the general Holofernes with cheese and wine and then beheading him in his sleep.
On the 7th night of Hanukkah, we honor these women and the role they played in our redemption. Today, we can celebrate Chag HaBanot by lifting up the names and stories of heroic women in our history and in our lives who have worked towards a more redeemed world. We can do this through ritual, storytelling, learning, and teaching. We can share and celebrate our experiences as Jewish women at a Rosh Chodesh circle. It is also customary on Chag Habanot to give gifts, so we can offer gifts to the women in our lives or contribute a meaningful donation to an organization that works to uplift women in society. Finally, we can embody the miracles that these women performed for us by doing our part to bring about a more redeemed world.
20 December 2023 | 8 Tevet 5784
Asara b’Tevet
Title: To Remember What We Wish We Could Forget
By Caleb Brommer, Jewish Life Specialist
Asara b’Tevet, the tenth day of the month of Tevet is one of a cycle of minor fasts that commemorate the destruction of the first and second Jerusalem Temples. In this case, the tenth of Tevet is the day that the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar began his siege of Jerusalem which eventually led to the first Temple’s ruin and the beginning of the Babylonian exile. The biblical accounts of this episode can be found in II Kings chapter 25 and Jeremiah 52. And according to book of Zecharia (8:19), this day was already being commemorated as a communal fast even in biblical times.
There is much to be said about communal fasts in general and fasts about the Temple in particular. Why do we feel the need to collectively mourn on these days so far removed from our own time and experience? What if we feel kind of yucky about the whole idea of the Temple and sacrifice and the symbolism and theology thereof—is it still important for us to mark its destruction?
For me, fast days represent an extremely powerful and worthwhile communal exercise. They call on us to remember things we perhaps wish we could forget. They refuse us the option of writing ourselves out of our communal story even if there are parts we’d like to be separated from. Asara b’Tevet, and all the other fast days, are not about us, it’s about our collective story. We may or may not have a personal connection to the Temple or the narrative and practices surrounding it, but those stories are part of what makes up the fabric of Jewish life and Jewish memory. Maintaining that communal memory is, I think, important and worthwhile. So even if you don’t fast, spare a moment, a prayer, a symbolic drop of wine (à la the Seder). Be a part of the story by remembering the story, and may our descendants do the same for us.
10 January 2024 | 29 Tevet 5784
Rosh Chodesh Sh'vat
Title: FUN FACTS ABOUT THE MONTH OF SH'VAT!
By Caleb Brommer, Jewish Life Specialist
Only fun facts – guaranteed, or your money back!
Okay here’s fun fact #1: Sh’vat is literally in the middle of the winter, but Tu Bi’Sh’vat, the New Year of the Trees is during this month. Weird, right? Actually, not that weird! Because in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel), this is the beginning of the rainy season (they don’t get a ton of snow in Israel) and so the trees are really vibing during Sh’vat.
Fun Fact #2: The name Sh’vat is a Hebraicized version of the Akkadian “Sabatu” which, according to the internet means ‘striking’ and refers to the rains striking the earth. Pretty cool.
Fun Fact #3: This one is particularly weird and cool. There is a tradition that shochatim/shochatot (kosher slaughterers) in Ashkenaz (central and eastern Europe) would not slaughter geese in the months of Tevet and Sh’vat. Why no geese!? Apparently, people were using geese to perform certain types of divination, and so those months were particularly dangerous ones to be around geese. So kosher slaughterers refrained from ending goose lives during the months of Tevet and Sh’vat.
23 January 2024 | 13 Shvat 5784
Tu Bishvat
Title: Planting for the Next Generations
By Rabbi Shari Shamah, Jewish Life Specialist
Honi the Circle Maker is a figure in Jewish folklore. Honi is famous for drawing a circle in the sand and not moving from it until rain came and sleeping for 70 years. (A Jewish Rip Van Winkle???) One of his stories in the Talmud teaches: One day, Honi, was walking along the road and saw a certain person planting a carob tree. Ḥoni said: This tree, after how many years will it bear fruit? The person said: It will not produce fruit until seventy years have passed. Ḥoni said: Is it obvious to you that you will live seventy years, that you expect to benefit from this tree? The person said that they found a world full of carob trees. “Just as my ancestors planted for me, I too am planting for my descendants.” (Babylonian Talmud, Ta’anit 23a)
I admire Honi for the ability to sleep, and for the reminder that how we treat our world today isn’t just about us, rather, it’s for those who come after us. As we look to Tu Bishvat (Jan 25th), the “New Year of the Trees”, and one of four Jewish new year experiences throughout the year, there is much that we can do to symbolically plant for the next generations. Things like nurturing civil discourse, working on climate change, and investing in a greener planet will make sure that there is a world to pass down to those who come after us. Stepping outside our technology and going outside to appreciate nature and the people right in front of us will help us value what we already have. Judaism gives us a day to emphasize the importance of trees and the environment, it is up to us to take advantage of it.
What are you planting this year?
What new year’s resolutions do you have for helping the environment and our surroundings?
What gifts do you want to leave for the next generations?
7 February 2024 | 28 Shvat 5784
Rosh Chodesh Adar 1
Title: Adar, Not Just Any Month
By Kevin Ary Levin, Latin American Jewish Educator
The Talmud tells us: “When Adar enters, joy increases”. Not satisfied with specific days of the year where we are commanded to be happy (can a person be happy on command, anyway?), we Jews also get a full month associated with happiness: Adar. And it’s not just any month: Adar has the privilege among Hebrew calendar months of sometimes repeating. Every Jewish “leap year” (shanah me’uveret) has a second Adar (Adar Bet) which allows the mostly lunar Hebrew calendar to resynchronize with the solar cycle and thus get all holidays fall in the same season every year. It’s complicated math, but the less you think about it, chances are you will find more joy. Double joy, in fact.
Adar’s joy reaches its climax on the 14th day of the month, Purim, a holiday uniquely associated with joy in our calendar. The fact that we remember a whole generation of Jews who heard an evil decree calling for their annihilation, and nevertheless overcame these circumstances, speaks of a joy which might be the best remedy against hate. On Purim, we are not just our normal selves (and in some circumstances, being ourselves can be challenging enough), we strive to be an even happier version of ourselves. Anyone who has had to hide their identity will sympathize with Esther’s experience hiding her Jewishness. Anyone who has been able to stop hiding will probably have felt a huge burden taken from their shoulders, and that is a wonderful cause to celebrate.
In the face of intolerance and hate, surviving is good, but celebrating our uniqueness is even better. May we all find in this Adar the freedom not just to be ourselves, but to rejoice in it.
21 February 2024 | 12 Adar I 5784
Purim Katan
Title: An Excuse to Rejoice!
By Rabbi Danny Stein, Base Upper West Side
מִי שֶׁנִּכְנַס אֲדָר מַרְבִּין בְּשִׂמְחָה
Mi shenichnas Adar, marbin b’simcha
When the month of Adar enters, we increase our joy!
This song is commonly sung during the month of Adar. If you’re in the right spot, you may even see folks performing headstands while we sing! Adar is famous for its overwhelming joy, largely because of the excitement Purim brings in the middle of it. But every so often, we have TWO Adars in one year, referred to as Adar I and Adar II. When this occurs, such as this year of 5784, we celebrate Purim Katan (Little Purim) in Adar I. Most folks celebrate Purim Katan on the 14th of Adar I, and those living in walled cities (such as Jerusalem) celebrate on the 15th of Adar I.
Some authorities think we should eat a festive meal on Purim Katan, much like we do on the “real” Purim in Adar II. Others think this is unnecessary (Surprise, disagreements in Jewish law!). One Jewish legal authority believes that rejoicing in a festive meal on Purim Katan is necessary because it is an opportunity to serve God through joy. After all, serving God through joy is what it’s all about (Arukh HaShulkhan 672:2)!
Why wouldn’t we want to have an excuse to celebrate? We should always take advantage of opportunities to rejoice together as a community. Whether we buy the special lox, treat our office to coffee, or simply set aside time to eat together, may this Purim Katan be an excuse for each of us to share moments of joy with each other.
5 March 2024 | 25 Adar I 5784
Shabbat Shekalim “Shabbat of the Shekels”
Title: Measure What Matters
By Loren Berman, Jewish Life Specialist
How many people showed up? How many “uniques” were there? What really matters, anyway?
This week’s special Torah reading – called “Parashat Shekalim” because it recounts the half-shekel contribution made by each adult male to support the sacrifices in the Tabernacle and Temple – offers an answer. The reading says that “when you take a census of the Israelites...each shall pay [a half-shekel]...and no plague shall come upon them...” Apparently, the way to take a census is not by counting heads themselves, but by counting the number of half-shekels donated (one half-shekel per head). But why? How could a census of counting people, rather than shekels, lead to a plague?
Rabbi Norman Lamm, a 20th Century leader of American Modern Orthodoxy, explains that “when we are only concerned only with quantity, when we are obsessed with numbers, there must be a plague... the index of blessing is substance and quality and content, not size and quantity and number.” In other words, it’s not how many Israelites there are that matters, but the impact of being a part of the people, and the commitment they demonstrate – measured by how many give this half-shekel. For us, we are challenged to celebrate our success by measuring not just the number of bodies who come into our homes – but the impact of our programming and their experiences in our homes, how transformed they are when they leave our homes, and their excitement to come back and play a role in helping others share those experiences as well.
How do you want your programs to impact your community members?
What meaning do you want to bring to their lives?
Where can you empower them to give back as an expression of their connection to the community?
5 March 2024 | 25 Adar I 5784
The Four Parshiyot Leading to Passover
Title: Four Weeks that Prepare Us for Passover
By Rabbi Shari Shamah, Jewish Life Specialist
The number four appears quite a bit in our Jewish tradition. There are four cups of wine at Passover, four Jewish new years in the Talmud, four Questions and four children at Passover, four matriarchs, four types of people in Pirkei Avot, and in this case, four parshiyot (Torah portions) leading up to Passover.
The meanings behind the parshiyot might help explain why the number four is significant in this case. The first verses read for Shekalim happen around Rosh Chodesh Adar (the new Hebrew month in which Purim falls) and discuss the commandment for every Jew over the age of 20 to donate a half shekel to Temple in the month of Adar. Let’s call this one Giving.
The second set of verses is for Zachor, to remember. Here, we remember the name Amalek and all the evil he wrought, and then blot it out. This sets the stage for the Purim story as Haman came from the Amalekite family. Summarizing this one, Remembering.
On the Shabbat after Purim we read the section, Parah, containing the Red Heifer used for spiritual purification purposes. Purification or Cleansing.
Finally, the Shabbat before the Hebrew month of Nissan (the month of Passover), is designated as Shabbat HaChodesh. This text establishes that Passover is the first month of the year (not to be confused with Rosh Hashanah which is the new year…), and that time should be Sanctified or marked as Holy.
All four parshiyot together help us to prepare for Passover. First, we need to give something of ourselves to sustain others. This reminds us that we need to be there for the community and for those in need. Once we have helped take care of our community, we need to remember how precious life is and how we can’t let our guard down. There will always be Amaleks out there looking to hurt us. We remember and blot them out to keep us strong. Being strong and fighting evil burdens us with “stuff” that holds us back from moving on. Just like we clean our homes for Passover, this third portion teaches that we must clean out all the baggage that we’ve collected to renew our souls. Finally, there is the recognition that life is precious. We’ve all experienced losses, hard times, and moments of despair that make us realize that we don’t know what tomorrow brings, and that each day is a gift to cherish. Step-by-step, each of the four special readings gives us a way to improve ourselves. Together, they make us whole, and ready for the Spring Holiday, the Festival of Passover.
What are four ways that you are looking to make yourself whole, and ready for Passover this year?
11 March 2024 | 1 Adar II 5784
Rosh Chodesh Adar II
Title: Increase in Joy
By Rachel Raz, Jewish Life Specialist
מִשֶּׁנִּכְנַס אֲדָר מַרְבִּין בְּשִׂמְחָה
Mishenichnas Adar, marbin b’simchah
When [the Jewish month of] Adar enters, we increase in joy.
Why increase in joy during the month of Adar and how to go about it when life isn't that great?
Rashi explains that the month of Adar is a time of miracles for the people of Israel. During Purim, we see that bad things can flip and turn to good things, and therefore we increase in joy in celebration of the miracles and the possibilities that gloomy faith can turn over and change; as it is written in the book of Esther:
“The same days on which the Jews enjoyed relief from their foes and the same month which had been transformed for them from one of grief and mourning to one of festive joy. They were to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking, and as an occasion for sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor.” (Esther 9:22)
This year, since October 7th, we, the Jewish people have been in pain, we have been mourning our dead and praying and fighting for the release of the hostages. Thousands of people in Israel are refugees in their own country, and everyone has been hoping for peaceful days. How can one increase in Joy this year? Focus on doing good deeds and increase light in the world, spend time with family and loved ones, invite people for a meal, study something that interests you, help a neighbor or a stranger, send gifts to one another and presents to the poor.
May this new month of Adar bring new miracles upon us, the People of Israel.
May this month transform from grief and mourning to one of festivity and joy.
*One of the expressions identified with the month of Adar appears in Megillat Esther, the Book of Esther: ”Venahafoch hu”; that is, everything flips. Just as in the Megillah everything is suddenly turned upside down as impending doom is displaced by salvation, similar surprises can happen in the world today and even in our own lives when, at the last minute, evil gives way to good and darkness is driven out by light.
18 March 2024 | 8 Adar II 5784
Ta’anit Esther
Title: Fasting for Jewish Life: Facing Challenges and Seeking Help
By Yulia Bezrukova, Global RSJ Jewish Educator
Ta’anit Esther, the Fast of Esther, is a significant Jewish tradition where we fast from sunrise to sundown the day before Purim, falling on the 13th of Adar. In Megillat Esther, we read about Haman's ominous plan to wipe out the entire Jewish community on this day.
Ta’anit Esther is a bit different from other Jewish fasts. It's not about mourning, like Tisha b'Av, or seeking forgiveness, like Yom Kippur. Instead, it's a call to action — a time to gather strength, willpower, and resilience to face challenges head-on. This fast stands for the culmination of Esther's crucial role in the Purim narrative, as noted by various commentators.
וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ אִם־לְעֵת כָּזֹאת הִגַּעַתְּ לַמַּלְכוּת
"And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis." (Esther 4:14)
Esther's first uncertainty transforms during a conversation with her uncle Mordechai. He guides her to not just hear but truly listen. Esther responds with courage, seeking help by calling on all Jewish people to join her in fasting. This collective effort becomes a turning point. Initially isolated in the palace, Esther's introspection, sparked by her dialogue with Mordechai, reveals her undeniable role in the fate of the Jewish people.
Ta’anit Esther symbolizes unity, faith, hope, and the desire to contribute to a positive outcome. Fasting becomes an embodied act of change — a departure from the ordinary for the sake of a greater good, whether personal or communal.
For those who may not observe fasting, dedicating time to introspection on the 13th of Adar can serve as an alternative.
Ask yourself: What challenges am I reluctant to face that could lead to greater good for myself or my community? How can I step up for myself and others? Where do I need help, and where can I help?
18 March 2024 | 8 Adar II 5784
Purim
Title: Purim: The Transformative Possibility of Joy
By Emily Rogal, MHWOW Jewish Life Specialist
Whenever I share about the holiday of Purim with someone unfamiliar with it, they always look at me as if I made it up. I suppose it makes sense that a holiday wherein we ingest substances*, eat themed cookies, read a communal story with audience participation (the original Rocky Horror Picture Show), and adorn ourselves in masks and costumes does not at first appear to be the most pious of holidays. But Purim, the holiday wherein we celebrate the strategic thinking and brave action of Queen Esther to prevent the Jews' destruction, holds a significant spiritual and communal importance according to our tradition.
Many rabbinic commentators have pointed out the similarities between PURim and Yom KipPUR, despite the holidays being seemingly diametrically opposed (feasting vs. fasting, celebration vs. reflection). However, on both holy days, we are meant to look at ourselves and the world from a different perspective (“nahafoch hu," to be turned upside down, is a central idea in Purim). On Yom Kippur, we reflect on our failings and how we can be better in the coming year. Purim invites us to live out the Black feminist and thinker adrienne marie brown's idea of "pleasure activism." brown writes: “Pleasure activists believe that by tapping into the potential goodness in each of us we can generate justice and liberation, growing a healing abundance where we have been socialized to believe only scarcity exists.”
Perhaps on Purim, we can tap into the spiritual urgency that Yom Kippur offers, while turning towards the joy that Purim begs us to not only feel but also act on. Purim invites us to see joy as a radical act, and reminds us of our spiritual and moral obligations to create and sustain a world where others can be at joy and in peace.
What does pleasure activism look like to you?
How do you understand Purim as a holy day?
* While ingesting substances is a common way for some to celebrate Purim, it is also important to be cognizant of members of our community who struggle with substance abuse. Here is a link to more information about Celebrating Purim in Recovery. Additionally, if you or a loved one are struggling with substance abuse and want support from a Jewish lens, check out the awesome work of Selah, a community that is both digital and located in Brooklyn.
21 March 2024 | 11 Adar II 5784
Shabbat Zachor
Title: How to Remember to Forget?
By Caleb Brommer, Jewish Life Specialist
Parashat Zachor refers to a quick three verses (Deuteronomy 20:17-19) where we receive a commandment to blot out the memory of Amalek. These verses are read in synagogue during the Shabbat immediately before Purim because the villain of the Purim story, Haman, is traditionally depicted as a descendent of Amalie. The Amalekites were a tribe of Canaanites who, according to the Torah, attacked the stragglers of the Israelite community as they traveled from the Red Sea towards Sinai. For this act of cowardice and malice, says the tradition, the Amalekites deserve to have their memory blotted out.
This section is fascinating for many reasons, not the least of which is that it contains a paradox. The text says “Remember (zachor) what Amalek did to you on your journey…Therefore…you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” (Deut. 17-19). So, are we supposed to remember Amalek? Forget them? Remember to forget them? Forget to remember them? One solution to this riddle is to argue that ‘blotting out the memory’ of Amalek means utterly destroying them so that while we may remember them in our mind, nothing of their existence will be left extant and they will not be remembered by any other people. But I think it is more spiritually edifying to sit in the paradox.
What does it mean to remember to forget? How can we train our own capacity to remember and what kind of world can we build where those who strike down the helpless and disadvantaged are held to account throughout the generations?
28 March 2024 | 18 Adar II 5784
Shabbat Parah
Title: Turning Cleanliness Into Community Building Ritual
By Rachel Dubowe, Jewish Life Specialist
Shabbat Parah is one of the four special Shabbatot* that happen leading up to Passover. During this Shabbat, we read Numbers 19:1-22, which details how the ashes of a red heifer were combined with water to ritually purify anyone in contact with a dead person. This was especially important leading up to Passover, as anyone who had become impure was asked to purify themselves before making the Passover pilgrimage. This ritual was one of many that defined the Israelites. Rituals build community. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks said, “Ritual turns us from lonely individuals into members of the people of the covenant.” Rabbi Sacks’ thoughts on ritual easily apply to this ritual that we are introduced to during Shabbat Parah. Impurity can often lead to isolation, loneliness and being outcasted, but here we have something in place to ensure that everyone can celebrate Passover together. This ritual speaks to the importance of Passover prep and inclusivity and community building. To be able to transition from being an individual to a member of the covenant is significant and is the underlying fabric of many of our rituals in Judaism. From being a MHWOW Host to a House/Pod Resident to a Community Member, Moishe House lends itself to countless ritual making moments and it goes without saying that these rituals move our lonely individuals into members of our very own covenant.
What are the modern versions of impurity? How does this ritual exist in modern times? What ritual do you want to start or continue that lends itself to community building?
*Shabbatot is the plural of Shabbat
2 April 2024 | 23 Adar II 5784
Shabbat HaChodesh
Title: Finding Freedom
By Rabbi Loren Berman, Jewish Life Specialist
With Passover around the corner, we celebrate Shabbat HaChodesh, “Shabbat of THE month”, where we read of the first mitzvah (commandment) given to the people of Israel once they are liberated from slavery – that of Rosh Chodesh, the establishment of the new month. How is Rosh Chodesh related to freedom?
One answer is that the difference between an enslaved person and a free person is control over one’s time. In the case of Rosh Chodesh, God does not tell us when the new month begins; rather, we ourselves must go out, see the new moon, and declare the day of Rosh Chodesh. In other words, liberation is not only freedom from oppression, but freedom to act, and not just any act, but to go out, look around, mark time, and create a calendar by which to live our lives.
Designing our calendars month after month might feel like a burden at times, but as community builders, and individuals in our own lives, let's take a moment to reflect on the mitzvah and the freedom we can feel if we create calendars and rhythms in our lives that help us realize the world we want to see:
What is the vision for community you are building towards?
Are the programs and events you put on building towards that vision?
Are you making time in your own life to reflect on your own personal vision, and assess if you are engaging in activities that will help make that a reality?
8 April 2024 | 29 Adar II 5784
Rosh Chodesh Nisan
Title: Joyful Leadership
By Rachel Dubowe, Jewish Life Specialist
Rosh Chodesh Nisan marks the month of Nisan, the month of Passover. It is also said that the prophetess, Miriam, died on this day. Miriam is a pivotal character in our Passover story as she led our people in dance and song when we triumphantly made it out of the Sea of Reeds. As we come out of Purim and its lineup of incredible female heroines, Passover brings us Miriam, yet another iconic female in our tradition. RitualWell describes this epic scene at the Sea of Reeds: “Miriam leads the song and dance. She teaches the sounds which the sea has taught her, in a chorus of voices: the exultant tenor of the wind, the chiming bell of the sky, the bellowing bass of the mountains, the mournful croak of the valleys, the newfound voice of the people.” Exodus 15:20-21 describes the scene, “And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dances. And Miriam answered them, “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider has he thrown into the sea.”
Painted between both accounts are imagery of joy, movement, nature, and leadership. Not only does Miriam have such a beautiful and physical reaction of joy, but she also has all of the women right behind her ready to celebrate as well. She exuberates joy and leadership - What does it look like to be such a joyful leader today?
Rosh Chodesh exists to mark the beginning of a new month, to recognize the past of the last month and to look ahead to the future of the new month. On this Rosh Chodesh Nisan, let us honor Miriam’s memory by striving to be more like her during this month of spring, rebirth, and Passover. How are you already like Miriam in your life? What actions of joy are you going to partake in this month?
16 April 2024 | 8 Nisan 5784
Yom HaAliyah
Title: Yom HaAliyah (יוֹם הָעֲלִיָּה)
By Rachel Raz, Jewish Life Specialist
Yom HaAliyah יוֹם הָעֲלִיָּה, or Aliyah Day, is a relatively new Israeli national holiday celebrated annually on the 10th of the Hebrew month of Nisan.
What is Aliyah? Aliyah, in English, is ascent or the act of going up. When we say that someone “made aliyah,” the idea is that they go up spiritually or their soul is uplifted.
The day commemorates the time when Joshua led the Israelites into the Land of Israel, as written in the Tanakh. This was the first mass Aliyah to the land following years in Egypt and in the desert. The holiday also acknowledges and honors the ongoing contributions of Olim (Jewish immigrants) to Israeli society in the modern state of Israel.
Since Yom HaAliyah falls on school vacation in Israel, it is also observed in Israeli schools on the 7th of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan because of the proximity to the weekly torah portion of Lech Lecha, when Abraham goes to the land of Canaan (Israel).
For all those who made Aliyah, happy Yom HaAliyah; we would love to hear your stories and about your experience. And for those of you thinking about it, reach out to our Moishe Houses in Israel, many of the Residents and Hosts have made Aliyah to Israel over the years.
May everyone's spirit ascend on this holiday!
18 April 2024 | 10 Nisan 5784
Shabbat HaGadol "The Big Shabbat"
Title: The Miracle of Do No Harm
By Rabbi Loren Berman, Jewish Life Specialist
We’ve finally arrived at Shabbat HaGadol – the GREAT Shabbat – which is the Shabbat before Passover. Why is this Shabbat greater than all other Shabbats? Our tradition teaches that a “Nes Gadol” (great miracle) took place on this day, which is why it’s called Shabbat HaGadol. Okay, so what was the miracle?
Hint: It wasn’t any of the 10 plagues. Rather, it was that on the Shabbat before the exodus, each Israelite family took a lamb from the Egyptians, which they tied to their bedposts for four days, and then offered it as a sacrifice to God (the paschal lamb). Either because the lambs stayed quiet or some other intervention, the Egyptians didn’t attack the Jewish people. The end.
What makes this miracle so great? My teacher, Rabbi Simcha Krauss (of blessed memory), taught the following: this incident with the lamb was so great because it is the only miracle where nobody physically suffered or died – neither the Israelites, nor the Egyptians. During the 10 plagues and splitting of the sea, for example, death and devastation was brought to humans, livestock, and nature. Not so with this miracle.
On this Shabbat HaGadol, on this Shabbat of Great Miracles, may we pray for a Nes Gadol, a Great Miracle, in our own time – one that liberate us with the least death and suffering possible.
21 April 2024 | 13 Nisan 5784
Ta'anit Bechorot "Fast of First Borns"
Title: Liberation for All
By Emily Rogal, MHWOW Jewish Life Specialist
Of the ten plagues in the Passover story, perhaps the most gruesome of them all is the death of the first born. Ta’anit Bechorot (translated as Fast of the Firstborn) is a custom whereby Jewish males who are the first-born children of their families fast for the day of Erev Pesach.* But, why is a fast required on this day? There are a multitude of interpretations, but it is impossible for me to think about this without thinking of the destruction and violence that has occurred during and after the October 7th attacks in Israel and Palestine.
Fasting, perhaps, is a spiritual technology meant to inflict suffering on the body.** This year, even if we are not fasting (or firstborns), Ta’anit Bechorot offers us the possibility of being in solidarity with the deaths of so many Israelis and Palestinians. Marking the death of the Egyptian firstborns on the edge of the joyous holiday of Passover allows for us to reconnect with our beliefs that no human being, of any nation or creed, should suffer. It is our duty, our sacred responsibility, to make it be so. Ken yehi ratzon—may it be so.
*Different communities have different practices — some maintain that every first born should fast.
**Fasting is not recommended or accessible for all Jews (including those who suffer from medical complications or eating disorders, for example) — take care of your body and your soul!
21 April 2024 | 13 Nisan 5784
Pesach "Passover"
Title: Bedikat Chametz & Jewish Neurosis
By Rabbi Dave Yedid, BASE DNVR
Among the beautifully witchy things Judaism invites us to do is search our homes with a feather, wooden spoon, and paper bag, guided by the light of a beeswax candle. This is called bedikat chametz–searching for chametz–the leavening agents that bring beautiful fluff to breads, pastries, and cereal which are not traditionally eaten on Passover. Every time I do it, I giggle. I feel like a child playing hide-and-go-seek with pieces of bread intentionally scattered throughout the home, so that they can be found. Inevitably, I also find some crumbs I missed.
Bedikat chametz happens at the very end of all the deep cleaning, organizing, and preparing for Pesach. I’ve already released the neglected foods in my pantry and finished my supply of yeast baking loaves of Challah for Gentile friends and neighbors not observing Pesach. So why the charade?
The rabbis knew about Jewish neurosis. When I’m less generous toward our Sages of blessed memory, I feel they codified Jewish neurosis! Mishnah Pesachim 1:2 wonders, what if a rodent takes a bread crumb from home to a home that’s already been cleaned for Passover? The text acknowledges ein l’davar sof: there is no end to the matter. We can criticize ourselves and go the extra mile, but at the end of the day we can only do and control so much. After the candle-lit fanfare we recite, “All leaven which is in my possession, which I have neither seen nor removed, and about which I am unaware, shall be considered nullified and ownerless as the dust of the earth.”
We do this to publicly, symbolically, ritually let ourselves off the hook. It gives us permission to declare that we’ve done the best we can.
May this Passover allow us to celebrate the hard work we have done, and let that be enough.
23 April 2024 | 15 Nisan 5784
Omer - Starting the Count!
Title: Counting the Omer: The Gravity of Jewish Time
By Rabbi Jesse Paikin, Executive Director, Base
In astrophysics, there’s a concept known as “Gravitational Time Dilation,” which describes how gravity warps time so that it passes more slowly the stronger the relative gravity (The film Interstellar does a dramatic job of exploring this). I think about this concept now as we traverse into one of most spiritually intense periods in Jewish time - the 49 days between Pesach and Shavuot. These two holidays hold immense gravitational weight on the Jewish calendar: Pesach celebrates the freedom of the Jewish people, and Shavuot commemorates the giving of the light of Torah. In a sense, all of Judaism orbits around the concepts each of these holidays embody: redemption and revelation.
Because these are such important ideas, they can also be quite intimidating. These holidays carry such weight and take an immense degree of personal, physical, and spiritual energy to observe (cooking for days for seders, staying up all night studying Torah, reflecting on our commitments to freedom and learning… it’s a lot!). Meanwhile, our human minds are so easily distracted that we might blink and miss the whole point of this season. Time often feels like it moves strangely, and particularly in this season, we might feel out of sync.
The kabbalists (medieval Jewish mystics) anticipated this psychological reality. They took the Torah’s basic instruction to count each of these 49 intermediate days using a sheaf of grain – an “Omer” - and transformed this practice of Counting the Omer into a time of heightened potential for inner growth. They assigned each day a unique attribute - middot - for spiritual reflection and character development. In a sense, they were recognizing that we might get lost in time in between the poles of Pesach and Shavuot, and so they innovated a ritual practice to ground ourselves.
Each day of the Omer presents an opportunity to align our spiritual clocks so that we can embody what it means to carry the weight of being a free people with a responsibility to lives enhanced by the gift of Torah.
5 May 2024 | 27 Nisan 5784
Yom HaShoah
Title: Nothing About This Is Right
By Caleb Brommer, Jewish Life Specialist
Yom HaShoah commemorates the realities of the Holocaust. The destruction of millions of Jews, millions of others, and countless treasures of scholarship, art, invention, and beauty is difficult to wrestle with even in thought—and how much more so in liturgy and prayer. Different siddurim (prayer books) have different psalms, readings, poems, and images in their sections for Yom HaShoah. The truth is that none of them measure up. None of the various liturgies that people have come up with in the years since the Holocaust captures what needs to be said. They can’t possibly. And that’s okay. The important thing is that they say something.
There is no right way to commemorate Yom HaShoah. But we have a duty and obligation to do something. Maybe light a memorial candle. Maybe research the names of some of those who lost their lives. Maybe pledge tzedakah or social action in their memories. Maybe say tehilim (psalms). Maybe stand and say the Mourner’s Kaddish, inserting the names of some of the Nazi death camps between the words. Maybe just take five minutes and try the impossible task of picturing what was lost. But do something. Because while it’s not totally right to say the Nazis failed, they also did not succeed. And we are proof of that. May the memories of all those who died in the Shoah be a continued blessing for all of us who remember them. And may we never fail to remember them.
7 May 2024 | 29 Nisan 5784
Rosh Chodesh Iyyar
Title: Time for Healing
By Rabbi Sofia Zway, Base LA
The Rabbis teach us that the Hebrew month Iyyar is an acronym for the phrase, Ani Adonai Rofecha, I am The Eternal your Healer. During this 2nd month of the Hebrew calendar, we mark the period between Passover and Shavuot known as the Omer, and celebrate the Israeli National Holidays of Yom Ha’Atzmaut and Yom HaZikaron, Independence Day and Memorial Day. The goal of the month of Iyyar is to offer us the time and tools for healing. Passover celebrates our release from slavery in Egypt, while Shavuot celebrates our receiving of Divine revelation and becoming a nation anchored by our covenant with God. But the journey from slavery to revelation requires time for healing: healing from the trauma of bondage, healing from the pain of leaving behind the only life we ever knew, healing from the pain we inflicted on others for the sake of our redemption.
Our Israeli national holidays also invite us into the space of healing, as we celebrate our modern-day redemption and commemorate the pains and losses that came along the way. The month of Iyyar invites us to consider where we need to heal as individuals and as a collective. It also reminds us that healing does not happen in a single moment, but that it comes with time and space, through ritual and community. We can also rely on God, the Source of Healing, to bring us refu’ah shleimah, complete healing, when we need it most. Chodesh tov!
What healing do you seek this Iyar? To whom or what can you turn to begin that healing journey?
12 May 2024 | 4 Iyyar 5784
Yom HaZikaron
Title: Too Much and Not Enough
By Rabbi Shari Shamah, Jewish Life Specialist
One of the most impactful moments of Yom HaZikaron in Israel is the siren. Every year at 8:00 pm when the commemoration begins, and again at 11:00 am the next morning, the air raid siren sounds all over Israel. Everyone stops right where they are and observes a moment of silence for those soldiers who have fallen in service to the State of Israel, as well as victims of terror. Whether in a car, in a grocery store, at home, or at work, the nation stops to mourn. Since 1963, this tradition has served as a powerful memorial for those Israel has lost.
In thinking about the observance this year (beginning May 12th at sundown) it feels different. No matter what is done, it feels like too much, or not enough. How do you support a nation where just about every Israeli knows someone(s) who was murdered or abducted on October 7th? How do you support victims of terror when there are still hostages in captivity and whose families have been stopping and grieving every single second since October 7th? How do you recount the blessings of each one of the more than 1,200 names that have been added to the Yahrzeit list this year for Yom HaZikaron?
How do you also embrace those who are conflicted about the complexity of this war and are devastated by the extent of the innocent lives lost on both sides. How can we mourn for Israel’s fallen and still hold the innocent Gazans who have died in our hearts all at the same time?
Proverbs 24:17 teaches “If your enemy falls, do not exult; If he trips, let your heart not rejoice.” These are the two truths that we hold in our hearts for Yom HaZikaron this year as we try and figure it out. It feels like too much, and not enough all in one breath.
How are you holding many truths this year?
How will you impart the impact of the siren to your community when it sounds on May 12th?
13 May 2024 | 5 Iyyar 5784
Yom HaAtzma'ut
Title: Yom HaAtzma'ut: A Time of Hope
By Rachel Raz, Jewish Life Specialist
Yom HaAtzma’ut – Israel’s Independence Day, celebrates and commemorates the historical moment in modern times of the declaration and establishment of the State of Israel. After almost 2000 years of yearning and praying, and years of preparation such as the founding of the city of Tel-Aviv in 1909, The Technion Institute of Technology, in 1912, and the Betzalel Art school in 1906 (to name a few) – The moment that Jews were waiting for arrived!
On Friday, the 5th of the Jewish month of Iyyar, the 14th of May 1948, David Ben Gurion (The future 1st Prime Minister of Israel) Proclaimed in Tel-Aviv:
“By the virtue of our historical and natural right, and on based on the united national general assembly resolution, We declare on the establishment of a Jewish state in Israel, The State of Israel.”
This year, as we commemorate that moment and celebrate Israel’s 76th Independence Day, Israel and the Jewish people are again challenged for our right to be who we are wherever we are around the globe, and our right to live freely in our homeland עַם חָפְשִׁי בְּאַרְצֵנוּ (am chofshi b’artzeinu). We are reminded that freedom is not free and is not guaranteed, but we need to work together to secure it. And as the Israel anthem “The hope” states עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִּקְוָתֵנוּ (od lo avdah tikvateinu).
We didn’t lose hope and we will not lose hope! May this Yom HaAtzma’ut strengthen you wherever you are, and together we will bring hope and light to the Jewish People, the State of Israel, and the world.
21 May 2024 | 13 Iyyar 5784
Pesach Sheini
Title: Living Within the Jewish Calendar
By Rabbi Danny Stein, Base UWS
I believe that one of the most important ways for any person, family, or community to create a meaningful Jewish life is to prioritize living within the Jewish calendar. Each holiday (and shabbat) is an opportunity for us to connect with ourselves, our deep tradition, and community. Of course, we may not always be able to observe every holiday for factors out of our control. Perhaps some of us did not celebrate Pesach in the ways we intended this year. This brings me to the significance of Pesach Sheini (Second Passover).
Pesach Sheini is a special “second chance Passover” celebrated on the 14th of Iyyar, one month after normal Pesach. We learn of its origins in the Book of Numbers:
“A certain people came close to Aaron and Moses on that day and said to them, ‘We were ritually unfit due to our proximity to a corpse (and could not observe Pesach). Why must we be punished and prevented from coming close to God within the rest of the Israelites?’ (Numbers 9:7).
Furthermore, we learn in the Talmud (Sukkah 25b) that these “certain people” could not observe Pesach the first time around because they were busy engaging in the sacred act of burying the dead. Thus, God instituted Pesach Sheini as an opportunity to celebrate the holiday for all who were unable to do so at its appointed time. But more than that, Pesach Sheini serves as a reminder that we always have an opportunity to engage with the Jewish calendar.
No matter what our lives looked like last year, month, or week, the Jewish calendar will keep rolling and creating opportunities for us to create meaningful Jewish lives.
24 May 2024 | 16 Iyyar 5784
Lag BaOmer
Title: Bonfire Season
By Rabbi Frankie Sandmel, Base BAY
Lag BaOmer is a mysterious minor holiday, popping up 33 days after the second night of Passover (obvious, right?). One reason we’re told that we celebrate 33 days after the second night of Passover is that on that day a plague that ravaged the students of Rabbi Akiva ended. Up until that day, we are told to refrain from certain joyful expressions, like getting married. And, we are invited to enact certain rituals of mourning, like not shaving. On Lag BaOmer, at this break, we’re invited to wed, to shave, and generally to rejoice.
Another reason for the holiday: on this day the greatest of the mystics, Shimon bar Yochai, died. In lieu of lighting a boring old yahrzeit candle, this great Sage warrants what's called a Hilula – a bonfire. A bright burning light to celebrate the light of Torah that this sage brought into the world.
I never quite know what to make of the Omer, this period of counting, of semi-mourning, that frames the transition from Spring into summer, from Passover to Shavuot. But Lag BaOmer, I totally get. As the days grow longer, and the sun shines warmer, I feel an itch to celebrate, to be outside, to invite all my friends who have been hibernating to hang out around a fire. Some years, I need to celebrate a simcha, a happy occasion – something like a Hilula that invites me to revel in the greatness of my fellow humans. And some years, after a long winter, I need a release, a gentle push from our tradition to find joy even in the heaviest of times, as I imagine Rabbi Akiva’s community did when they celebrated Lag BaOmer. Most years, I need both.
Lag BaOmer invites us to put down whatever else we’re carrying, pause the daily routine just a little bit, and find an excuse to throw a bonfire because we could use one, even 33 days after the second night of Passover.
5 June 2024 | 28 Iyyar 5784
Rosh Chodesh Sivan
Title: What's Your Sign?
By Rabbi Shari Shamah, Jewish Life Specialist
Occasionally, I find myself looking at my horoscope, Gemini, and wondering if it will come true, or give me a clue about how I should act, and what I should do? I’m not sure I truly believe in horoscopes, but I am fascinated with the idea that the concept of the Zodiac goes all the way back to the beginning of Creation and is discussed by our Jewish sages, especially, the Mystics.
In Sefer Yitzirah (5:1), we learn that there are 12 simple Hebrew letters that are enumerated. “These twelve letters, God designed, formed, combined, weighed, and changed, and created with them the twelve divisions of the heavens (namely, the zodiacal constellations), the twelve months of the year, and the twelve important organs of the frame of the human, namely the right and left hands, the right and left feet, the two kidneys, the liver, the gall, the spleen, the intestines, the gullet, and the stomach.” The Zodiac is related to the year and our vital organs. Additionally, the Zohar connects the signs of the Zodiac to the Twelve tribes (Zohar 173a).
The Moon is crucial in Jewish tradition. It lets us know when a month begins, and accordingly, when holidays will be celebrated. The new moon on June 7th brings in Rosh Chodesh Sivan, the first day of the Hebrew month of Sivan. This new month is auspicious. According to the Torah, on the third full moon after the Israelites left Egypt, they entered the wilderness of Sinai, camped there, and Moses went up to God (Exodus 19:1). Rosh Chodesh Sivan ushers in a period of preparation, of Holiness, as it is during this month that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.
Remember how I doubted the power of my horoscope? Maybe there is something to it. Gemini, the third sign of the Zodiac corresponds to Sivan, the third month of the Hebrew calendar; the month in which we need to prepare for a relationship to God. In this case, my sign does give me direction about how to act.
Does your sign do the same? To answer that, think about your Zodiacal sign, figure out which Hebrew month it corresponds to, and look at that month and all that it holds. What are the lessons you can take from the time in which you were born?
* The Zohar is the primary text of Kabbalah, and shares the teachings of Shimon Bar Yochai and his students.
* Sefer Yitzirah is an ancient mystical work that describes God’s creation of the universe.
10 June 2024 | 4 Sivan 5784
Shavuot
Title: Torah is Additive
By Rachel Jackson, Base BSTN
What is Torah? It can be used to mean text learning, our tradition more generally, or the physical scroll that is read each week. As a soferet, Jewish scribe, I am often thinking about the interplay between these different meanings. The rabbis extrapolate much of the halachot, ritual laws, about how to write and repair scrolls from the word “וכתבתם”—“you shall write” which appears in the text of the shema. They take this to mean "שֶׁיִּהְיוּ הָאוֹתִיּוֹת נַעֲשׂוֹת דַּוְקָא בַּכְּתִיבָה, וְלֹא עַל יְדֵי חֲקִיקָה", “every letter be made by writing, specifically, and not by means of erasing" (Keset Hasofer 8:1). In other words, the creation of Torah is an additive, and not a subtractive process. For example, you can’t clear up a word by erasing a drop of ink which obscured a letter. You need to erase it and rewrite it so that the final act is additive.
This Shavuot, I am wondering—what is deep within you that our tradition needs? What do you have to add to make Torah more beautiful, more varied, and more alive? Wishing you an inspiring Shavuot full of moments of inspiration, and glimpses of Torah coming from places you might not have expected it.
1 July 2024 | 25 Sivan 5784
Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
Title: Rosh Chodesh Tammuz: Summer Heat
By Hannah Prager, Jewish Learning Collaborative Partnerships Manager
Welcome to the month of Tammuz! Feeling the intensity of the summer heat? Tammuz is characterized by intense heat, physically in summer, emotionally in Korach and Pinchas, where we can learn both a positive and negative way human nature can lead us to channel our inner heat.
In Parashat Korach, power-hungry Korach gathers community to rise up against Moses, spreading fear and anger like wild-fire. Korach and crew were angry that Moses had taken them out of Egypt and into the desert, they lacked faith of reaching Israel, and harshly criticized Moses as a leader, with the intention for Korach to be a leader, and no desire for dialogue or problem-solving. A theatric ending ensues, “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all Korach’s people and all their possessions” (Num 16:32). With fear and jealousy in the driver’s seat, Korach’s thoughtless heat forms the demise of himself and his followers.
Contrastingly, Parashat Pinchas also shows us a story of common folk reaching for more power – in a different way. A man named Zelophehad passed away, leaving behind only daughters, no sons. Typically any property or material wealth would be passed to sons, and was going to be otherwise distributed. While the Torah is quiet about emotions here, we read the actions of his daughters, who thoughtfully and bravely stood before Moses, the priest, the chieftains, and the whole assembly, and request to keep ownership of their father’s belongings. As a significant contrast to typical protocol, Moses brings the case before Gd, who then instructs Moses to change the policy moving forward, and communicate to the Israelite people to allow transference of property to daughters. In this case, the heated energy is channeled towards healthy conflict resolution, a respectful expression of unmet needs with valid lack of justice, and positive political change as a result.
When we feel heated situations and emotions, we aim to channel that energy in a positive, thoughtful direction. Scribes add an upward pointing stroke on the roof of the letter ח Chet, the letter of Tammuz, suggesting “the Divine [Chai - Life] lives in the heights of the universe” (Babylonian Talmud, Menachot 29b). We aim to direct our energy to a higher purpose, to look up with hope and faith, to choose the high road, to choose life. Chodesh Tov!
Where do I currently feel heat – mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually? What is the context?
Where is the heat sourced?
What is the best way to channel this energy? What does the best case scenario or desired outcome look like? Like fire molds clay, can my energy form positive change, or is it best to cool down?
Is there anything I can learn?
22 July 2024 | 16 Tammuz 5784
Tzom Tammuz
Title: What's the Point of Fasting, Anyway?
By Aiden Pink, Jewish Life Specialist
The 17th day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz is one of Judaism’s “minor fasts,” in which the fasting is only from sunrise to sunset, rather than a full 24 hours. Like many Jewish fasts, the fasting is done to commemorate calamities that happened to the Jewish people on that day in history: According to the Mishnah, both the incident of the Golden Calf, and the Roman army’s breaching of Jerusalem’s walls before its eventual destruction, occurred on this date.
It can sometimes be difficult to find meaning in ritual fasts, especially when they are connected to historical events that seem to have little connection to our world today. At least one ancient rabbi was aware of this, and sought to reframe the significance of the day. In the Talmud, Mar Zutra says: The merit of fasting is from the tzedakah, the acts of justice, that should occur as a result.
It is a Jewish tradition on fast days to donate to charity the amount of money that you would have normally spent on that day’s food. But not only that: On days that we are hungry, we should subsume those feelings into being hungry for justice, eager in our desire to make the world fairer and more compassionate.
Tzom kal u’mo’il: May you have an easy and beneficial fast – beneficial for yourself and for those in your community.
How else can you use fasting – removing something from your day – as a way to be additive to the world?
Are there other things in your life that you want to fast from using or doing?
4 August 2024 | 29 Tammuz 5784
Rosh Chodesh Av
Title: Preparing for Grief
By Rabbi Frankie Sandmel, Base Bay Area
Believe it or not, we’re two months away from the High Holidays. Rosh Chodesh Av, the beginning of this new month, marks start of a journey of reflection and re-grounding that peaks two months and 10 days later: Yom Kippur. Av holds that saddest day on the Jewish calendar – Tisha B’Av, the 9th of Av. On Tisha B’Av, we mourn a whole list of tragedies that – at least mythologically – happened on that very day: plagues, expulsions, other episodes of persecution throughout history, most notably, the destruction of the Temple.
It’s been a painful year to be a human being in the world. Though sometimes it's hard to talk about it, it’s also been a particularly hard year to be a Jew. Av invites us to carve out time to cry, to grieve, to scream, to punch a pillow – to give ourselves permission to feel without needing to analyze those feelings, to put them in a particular box or to fit them neatly into a particular story.
Rabbi Allan Lew, in his book This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared, teaches that is only from this place of wordless, unharnessed emotion that we can start the honest and deep rebuilding that the High Holiday season asks of us. Only once we’ve unleashed all the messiness within, we can truly build anew.
Our ancestors knew that accessing this kind of emotion doesn’t happen at the drop of a hat – it takes time, space, and preparation to open long-closed corners of our hearts; Rosh Chodesh Av invites us to clear space for our grief. It asks us to buy a new journal, to plan a trip to the woods, to check out local Jewish communities, so that nine days later, on Tisha B’Av, we’re ready to feel.
7 August 2024 | 3 Av 5784
Shabbat Chazon
Title: Learning To Do Good
By Yulia Bezrukova, Global RSJ Jewish Educator
The Shabbatot (plural of “Shabbat”) around Tisha B'Av have important messages related to this special time in the Jewish calendar. Tisha B'Av marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples, and is a day filled with deep grief, however, Jewish tradition comes to the rescue to make a little softer with not one, but two Shabbatot serving as a much-needed blanket of hope in hard times. The Shabbat right before Tisha B'Av is called Shabbat Chazon, or the Shabbat of Vision, named after the reading from Isaiah 1:1-27. This passage, while recounting the people's sins, ends with a hopeful note: reconciliation will come when we "cease to do evil, learn to do good".
Shabbat Chazon offers us the promise of redemption – we need to change. How often do we concentrate on the chaos around us, critiquing everything wrong with the world? What if instead we turned our focus to things in our life that could help us “learn to do good”?
It takes a lot of strength and courage to overcome challenges and fight with evil, it takes even more energy to choose to “do good” and create something while surrounded by negativity – beautify your space, be a good listener, fix something that doesn’t work or simply let go of things that bring too much of the energy that doesn’t serve you. Be the change by cultivating creativity, kindness, positivity, and gratitude. This week, while we are coming closer to the darkest point in the Jewish calendar, use this Moishe Moment as a spark to guide you.
Think about your favorite Jewish ritual, aspect of Judaism, or Jewish Culture.
How can you add more of it to your life?
What gifts of Jewish wisdom can we share to nourish our souls and communities?
11 August 2024 | 7 Av 5784
Tisha b'Av
Title: Memory and Action
By Rabbi Ari Perten, VP of Jewish Learning
Death. Destruction. Loss. Mourning. These are the classic themes of the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av (Tisha b’Av). On this date in 70 CE, Roman legions successfully destroy the Second Temple (of which only the Western Wall remains today), effectively ended Jewish hegemony in Israel until the establishment of the modern State on May 14, 1948, and irrevocably changed the course of Jewish life. Perhaps, for those of us born after the Holocaust, the emotions of Tisha b’Av have never felt more present than in this year. As we grapple with the gruesome attacks of October 7th and its resultant aftermath, the emotional themes of Tisha b’Av have become standard fixtures in our lives. We have witnessed, and still witness, death and destruction. We continue to experience loss and mourning. Amidst this regular and constant landscape of pain why should we bother to make note of Tisha b’Av this year?
Complementing its emotional themes, Tisha b’Av insists on an additional central element, memory. What does it mean to remember? Memory is core to identity. As Oscar Wilde explained, “Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us.” Memories sustain us. Memories caution us. Memories guide us. We are who we are because of the memories we hold within. But Tisha b’Av demands more. Memory as a passive act is untenable. Lived memory requires more than just emotional response. Traditionally, Tisha b’Av is observed through communal fasting and mourning rites as Jews make the statement of continued loss and seek the comfort of mourning rituals. Tisha b’Av of 2024 is 311 days after October 7th. We still remember the pain of the attacks. We still remember the loss of life. We still remember the captives yet unredeemed.
How will your memories compel you to act this Tisha b’Av?
14 August 2024 | 10 Av 5784
Shabbat Nachamu
Title: Taking Comfort
By Aiden Pink, Jewish Life Specialist
One of the most powerful mitzvot in Judaism is the commandment of nichum aveilim, providing comfort to mourners. The most common way Jews do this is by taking care of people in mourning who are observing the ritual of shiva – by feeding them, by sharing thoughtful words or memories, or even just by showing up.
This week is the first Shabbat after Tisha B’av, the day when we mourn the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the people who were killed throughout history solely because they were Jewish. This Shabbat is called Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comforting, because of the first line of this week’s Haftarah, from the Book of Isaiah: “Nachamu nachamu ami yomar Eloheichem – Comfort, oh comfort My people, says your God.”
The Jewish calendar is set up so that there is a designated period for grieving – Tisha b’Av; a designated period where God reminds us that we are responsible for caring for others in their grief – Shabbat Nachamu; and, as we continue through the next seven weeks, a designated period to mark the passage of time, the birth of a new year, the return to a more typical way of living while opening up to new possibilities – Rosh Hashanah.
What can we learn from Jewish practices and histories of going into and emerging out of mourning?
How else does Judaism have a unique relationship with the passage of time?
18 August 2024 | 14 Av 5784
Tu b'Av
Title: How We Think About Love
By Josh Neirman, Immersive Experiences Program Manager
When I was recently doing a little studying on Tu b’Av I came across Mishnah Ta’anit 4:8 where we hear from Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel encouraging us to focus on someone’s character first and not their beauty. And just like Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel wants us to focus on something we might not initially be drawn to, I want to draw our attention this Tu b’Av to other forms of love. Considering current global conflicts, we really need to fill this world with love of all types. What if we expanded our definition of love on Tu b’Av? Why not expand it to all the love in your life: family, friends, pets, etc.
Could we fill this world with so much love that hate wouldn’t have space?
What can you do daily to emanate all forms of love in your life?
1 September 2024 | 28 Av 5784
Rosh Chodesh Elul
Title: Effort After Elul
By Elyssa Hurwitz, Associate Director of Jewish Education
I’ve been experimenting with alternative ritual practices for the past five or so years, and my passions continue to lie in learning about ritual practices. I love deconstructing a ritual into its core elements and meaning, finding other actions/word/songs/etc. that could create a similar point for reflection/connection, and then putting all the pieces together to create a new and modern ritual.
A few years ago, because Elul is a time of reflection and intention-setting, I decided to pick a new niggun each year that would focus my energy for how I wanted to shift my life in the upcoming year and dedicate a few minutes every day from the beginning of month of Elul through Yom Kippur to singing that niggun (wordless melody*). There are a ton of niggunim, and they come from across time and space! I love learning them because they are easy to teach to other people, and easy to sing with people from all backgrounds (because of the lack of words).
This year, the niggun I chose for this year is Hishtadlus by Batya Levine. Hishtadlut** (השתדלות) roughly translates to “effort” or “drive,” and I’d like 5785 to be a year where I can recognize where I am putting my effort, actively make choices around if I want to say ‘yes’ to something, and celebrate when I reach milestones in my life. I’m planning on spending some time more intentionally reflecting on the last year by journaling and talking to people I love and trust, but this is how I will start setting some intention to my days during Elul.
* If you’d like to hear some different niggunim, I’d encourage you to check out the playlist “Niggunim when there are no words”
** Depending on one’s background, they may pronounce the last letter in this word as a “s” sound or a “t” sound