Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

Coming back from time away, we and our Kol Ami family hit the ground running. Midweek, a rally on behalf of the rights of tenants in Kansas City (really an ongoing fight against homelessness). Friday, we held our annual Shabbat Hanukkah service. Saturday morning, we celebrated the bat mitzvah of Matylda Breinin.

A common thread I observed in these three events is how we are all thirsting for community. I often mention how rejuvenated...Read more...

This past week challenged our perspective on whether our system of justice is truly just. I know there are varying views on the jury’s verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse case. Among these views is that the judge in the case put his thumb on the scale of justice inappropriately in favor of the defendant. Also, a recent poll came out in which, by a large majority, the U.S. Supreme Court was seen to be driven by politics, and not approaching...Read more...

I am thinking about this coming Saturday’s 10th-anniversary celebration. I related to our wonderful president, Wynne Begun, that I am approaching this day feeling a bit sheepish and, at the same time, looking forward to a time to celebrate.

The sheepish part is that this is presented as a “me” thing — honoring my 10 years as Congregation Kol Ami’s rabbi. I do think this should be a “we” event and not a “me”...Read more...

This past week, Suzanne Gladney, the director of the Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund, informed me of the death of migrant farmworker Luis Octavio, age 49, due to cancer. (Suzanne is our featured Shabbat speaker on Friday, November 5.) With that in mind, I will keep my blog short this week.

Hearing about this loss and the difficulty for his family and for other migrant farmworkers with whom he worked is a vivid reminder that...Read more...

This past week, we entered into the month of Heshvan, also known as Mar Heshvan, or Bitter Heshvan. I have joked (albeit not a great joke) that for rabbis, after a long stretch of holidays, it is not so bitter. 

All kidding aside, it does create for all of us (not just rabbis) an opportunity not just to catch our breath but to reboot and re-engage in the important tasks of the everyday. After all, the 39 acts of labor prohibited...Read more...