Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

Last Friday night, we had a wonderful turnout for our Shabbat service and our Seudah, our festive Shabbat picnic. I am always grateful for the culture of our Kol Ami community — the way you all come together and just seem to enjoy each other’s company. Ever since the Covid pandemic lockdown became, for lack of a better word, unlocked, there was an urging in the community to find more opportunities to connect with one another. It was a...Read more...

Every so often, I feel the need (or force myself) to step out from the tsuris in the world — the grievance, anger, fear and cynicism — to grab on to something positive. Sometimes that may mean looking the other way when an event that brings me joy may, behind the scenes, come with some dubious conduct.

As a caveat, on Tuesday this week we observe what is arguably the saddest day on the Jewish calendar — Tisha B’Av. So let...Read more...

We’ve entered into a three-week period of mourning on the Jewish calendar that culminates on Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av. It is the only other major fast day on the calendar other than Yom Kippur. The ninth of Av is when, according to tradition, both the first and second Temples were destroyed. It is a day of great sadness.

Two things to think about. In commemorating the tragedies that we have suffered throughout...Read more...

In a series of events, from a spate of troubling rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court to the debate to this past weekend’s horrific shooting (the political violence at the Trump rally — one person dead, two others in critical condition as I write this), against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza with 116 hostages still not home, I have to admit that I am overwhelmed, as I feel many in our community and our country are...Read more...

As I write this, I’m hearing the announcement from the U.S. Supreme Court that, unlike everyone else in our country, the president of the United States is above the law. This ends a term of the court in which they have abrogated the long-held Chevron Doctrine — finding that federal judges, rather than administrators who are the top experts in their fields, are better positioned to make decisions about our dangerously climate-challenged...Read more...