Community Blog
01/10/2020 11:28:41 AM
Welcome! Check out Rabbi Lizz's divrei Torah and other community updates here.
The Joy of Shabbat!
11/03/2023 09:50:22 AM
Tonight we begin the "Joy of Shabbat"
First Fridays at CongregaRead more...
Abuse, Awareness, and Alleviation
10/27/2023 10:31:08 AM
Shabbat Shalom. This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Lech Lecha, the beginning of our people’s covenant with God, when Abraham (still Abram) first heeds God’s call. It also tells us of Sarai’s difficulty in getting pregnant, and her “giving” her maidservant Hagar to Abram as a surrogate. However, once...Read more...
Olives and All-Of-Us
10/20/2023 06:34:53 PM
Shabbat Shalom. This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Noach, the story of the Great Flood. As the flood waters recede, Noah first sends out a raven to test the land situation. The raven never comes back. One might interpret from this that there was indeed land to perch on, but without evidence, Noah was not...Read more...
The Beginning of Bloodshed
10/13/2023 03:36:30 PM
Shabbat Shalom. I have never before spoken about Israel from the bima, but I have felt devastated this week, and I cannot keep silent. I was heartbroken and worried for my people on Saturday and Sunday, alongside the rest of the Jewish world, after hearing about the largest single massacre of...Read more...
A message from our local Federation
10/08/2023 12:27:02 PM
Yesterday morning, our community awoke to the heartbreaking, deeply upsetting news of war in Israel.
At this holy time of ShabbatRead more...
The Search for Holiness
09/24/2023 01:42:16 PM
Shalom and tzaharayim tov. Our afternoon Torah reading tells us, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” All of Jewish life can be summed up here. We are constantly on the search for holiness, to understand what it means to honor our Divine Spark, to strive to walk in God’s way. The Holiness Code, the section of Leviticus we read from this afternoon, gives us some guidance, but between God’s...Read more...
Choosing Life, When it feels like we don't have choices
09/24/2023 01:34:33 PM
Gut Yontif and Boker Tov. I hope you are all managing well through the first arc of our long fast together. This day can be hard for many of us in different ways. The Torah tells us that this day we should practice self-affliction, which the ancient rabbis later interpreted to mean fasting, as well as abstaining from a number of earthly pleasures. However, even they allowed for leniencies, and not just in cases of...Read more...
Conversos, Kol Nidre, and Continuity
09/24/2023 12:34:12 PM
Anyada buena, dulse i alegre. Tonight we begin the final ascent of our high holy day season. After a month of introspection throughout Elul, a beautiful Rosh HaShana Seder and celebratory Rosh HaShana Day, and these ten Days of Awe, we arc toward our close with Yom Kippur. Tomorrow, many of us will be at the synagogue all day, alternating between praying, learning, kibbitzing, and...Read more...
Return, Repentance, and Repair
09/22/2023 09:03:08 AM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Ha’azinu, Moses’s song to the People of Israel right before he leaves them for good. But what makes this Shabbat really special, is that it is Shabbat Shuva, the Shabbat between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, a Shabbat of return. The Torah...Read more...
Rosh HaShana 5784
09/17/2023 10:04:11 AM
Groovy Teshuvy, y’all. Here we are at the start of a new year, a time of possibility. Here we are at the Jewish high holy days, a time of introspection. This is the season of teshuvah (or teshuvy), a chance to repent and to return to our best selves. While we are certainly a people...Read more...
Who am I? Who are you? Who are we?
09/01/2023 12:22:35 PM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Ki Tavo. A lot of the parasha is about commandments, and the consequences of following or not following them, and you will hear more about that tomorrow from our Bat Mitzvah who has studied hard to understand her Torah portion.
Read more...
Labor Day and Living Wages
08/25/2023 03:58:45 PM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Ki Teitzei, which contains the most laws of any single parasha in the Torah. Among these lists of commandments are rules regarding fair labor practices.
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The Necessity of Sanctuary
08/18/2023 04:29:08 PM
This d'var Torah was originally written for T'ruah's listserve, and appears here with some differences for a congregational delivery.
Shabbat Shalom. The first “work” I did after returning from Switzerland was to speak with Senator Kaine’s office...Read more...
Pampered Chef Party
08/17/2023 07:18:22 PM
Communal and Divine Care
08/04/2023 10:09:35 PM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Ekev, in which Moses reminds the people of Israel that they have taken the long route from Egypt to Israel both as a punishment for their obstinacy and as a learning opportunity, a promise of Divine care when they follow the...Read more...
Holiness, Hierarchy, and the Heart of Torah
06/23/2023 10:24:47 AM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Korach, in which a Levite named Korach leads an Uprising against Moses and Aaron and is ultimately smote by God, with the earth opening up and swallowing whole Korach and all his...Read more...
Shelach, Shatzi, Shalom
06/16/2023 05:25:33 PM
Shabbat Shalom. This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Shelach, in which Moses sends 12 spies into the Holy Land to scope out its conquerability. All but two of them come back shaking in their boots, convinced that the giants that inhabit the land will fight back too fearsomely and the Israelites...Read more...
Samson, Strength, and Solemn Vows
06/02/2023 05:26:30 PM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Nasso. In the Reform tradition in particular, we are reading the second half of Nasso, in which we read about the rules for the Nazirite, one who takes an oath to separate themselves from worldly experiences for a time, focusing on spiritual experiences...Read more...
Mammals, Moms, and More
05/07/2023 02:31:12 PM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Emor, in which we receive some more laws relating to the priests’ duties and how they are to conduct themselves throughout their lives. We also receive rules about the holy days - more about how to observe Shabbat, as well as the expectations of the...Read more...
Teal Shabbat
04/28/2023 11:14:07 AM
Shabbat Shalom. Today is the 23rd day of the Omer. We are almost exactly halfway through this period from Pesach to Shavuot, from liberation to revelation. This time of year, every year, Jews around the world gather and recount the Exodus from Egypt, freedom from slavery, and survival as a...Read more...
Who by Fire
04/14/2023 06:51:49 PM
Shabbat Shalom. This week’s Torah portion is a grotesquely fitting story for our Yom HaShoa theme. While the first chapter of Parashat Shemini (Leviticus 9) tells of a series of successful sacrifices, the second (Levitucus 10) tells of another sacrifice gone horribly wrong. After Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons are given the instructions for proper sacrifice, they perform each of the required sacrifices...Read more...
Friends Don't Let Friends Have Seders Without Jews
04/08/2023 09:35:07 AM
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach! This Shabbat’s Torah portion breaks from the chronological parashat hashavua to revisit a section of Exodus where Moses and God have a pretty intimate one-on-one about the leadership of this newly freed nation of slaves. Moses asks God to continue to lead the people in a very visible way, not just through himself, so that the whole world may know that the Israelites shall be distinguished from the...Read more...
Flame, Flamers, and Forever
03/31/2023 11:14:53 AM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Tzav, the second parasha in Leviticus, and it continues the detailing of the sorts of sacrifices that will be made in the Mishkan and eventually in Temple service. It also continues several reiterations of the commandment that the fire on the...Read more...
Bread and Roses
03/24/2023 01:41:22 PM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayikra, the first parasha of the Book of Leviticus. This parasha and most of Leviticus discusses the rituals around sacrifices: the when, what, why, how, and by whom the sacrifices are offered at the Mishkan.
Read more...
Éirinn go Brách
03/17/2023 04:13:22 PM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Vayekhel-Pekudei, a double portion about - what else - the building of the Mishkan. And of course today is also St. Patrick’s Day, which is obviously not a Jewish holiday, but is it really a Catholic holiday as indicated by the word...Read more...
Sex Work is Work, Trafficking is Slavery
03/05/2023 12:42:04 PM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Tetzaveh, which mostly focuses on the garments and accroutrements of the Priests serving in the Mishkan. This is also Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat immediately preceding Purim, which includes a special extra Torah reading from...Read more...
Octavia's Terumah
02/27/2023 02:52:33 PM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Terumah, in which God starts to give out the instructions on the building of the Mishkan, the holy Tabernacle that will wander the desert with the Israelites and give an earthly home to the Shekhina, the Divine presence, so...Read more...
Thou Shalt Not "Single White Female" Your Neighbors
02/10/2023 11:13:41 AM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Yitro, in which we find the 10 Commandments and Moses learning from his father-in-law how to be a stronger leader through delegating tasks to other potential leaders in the nation. In discussing the parasha with Philip, we got into a bit of a disagreement about the final of the Big Ten. I don’t disagree with him,...Read more...
Trees, Seas, and Oases
02/06/2023 12:59:09 PM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Beshalach, in which we find the song of the sea and the final push of the Israelites’ escape from slavery into freedom. As you know, the holiday of Tu BiShevat is also this weekend. Although trees look dead in North America...Read more...
Books, Empowerment, and Dolly Parton
01/20/2023 01:58:04 PM
Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat VaEra, which includes a reiteration of God’s call to Moses, some feeble explanation of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, Moses and Aaron’s family trees, and the first seven of the Ten Plagues. At various points in this...Read more...