On Saturday night, Nadya and I and several Temple Sinai members attended a tribute concert to Leonard Cohen performed by his long-time back-up singer, Perla Battala, organized by Art Town, and hosted by the First United Methodist Church in downtown Reno. One of the pieces that moved me most that night was Battala’s performance of […]
Partnering with God
This week we completed a three-session, 30-people class called A Taste of Judaism TM, for which Temple Sinai received an advertising grant through the Union for Reform Judaism. It was a wonderful and diverse group of interfaith couples, Jews from birth who were raised with little or no Jewish education, and non-Jewish spiritual seekers curious […]
Preparing for Yom Kippur
It was wonderful to pray with everyone who joined us for Rosh HaShanah services this year. Below is the excerpt that Dr. Gary Pomeranz shared before expertly sounding the shofar. Please take a moment to read it in case you missed it. You can also read both Rosh HaShanah sermons I delivered this year here. […]
Our Task in Elul
A good Chodesh Elul, everyone! The month of Elul in Aramaic means “to search” as the spiritual project of this month is “searching our souls” and beginning the process of repentance and forgiveness that culminates with Yom Kippur on the 10th of Tishrei. “Elul” is also said to be an acronym for “Ani l’dodi v’dodi […]
Entering the Month of Av
Like most summers, I have officiated at a requisite handful of weddings this summer. And I am sure many of you whose weddings happened in the summer, are celebrating joyous anniversaries. Mazel tov! With the warm weather and with children on different schedules, summer is a time of joy, of adventure and celebration. At the […]
Greatness through Diversity
Looking forward to this 4th of July weekend, let us reflect on the state of multiculturalism in America. As American Jews, we would tend to embrace a definition of Americanness that is vivacious and various; dynamic and diverse. There is no one culture that defines America; rather, our great country is a composite of cultures. […]
Shavuot and the Start of Summer
Seven weeks (49 days) after the second day of Passover, rejoicing in our people’s exodus out of Egypt, comes Shavuot, the harvest holiday that also celebrates the receiving of Torah at Mount Sinai. Reading the Book of Ruth, eating dairy foods, decorating our homes with leaves and branches, feeding the poor and learning Torah are […]
A Prayer for Yom HaShoah
Every year Yom HaShoah comes and one is confronted once again with the enormity and horror of the Holocaust, the real experience of millions of people murdered at the hands of the Nazis (six million Jews and millions of gays, gypsies, differently-abled people, dissidents and others), and we are asked to imagine the reality of […]
Introducing Strategic Planning
In Temple Sinai’s Leadership Development Institute with twenty members of our congregation involved, Lynda Goldman and I have been engaging members in best practices for leadership. This class is dove-tailing very nicely with the Strategic Planning Committee that begins its work this month. The SPC will eventually be engaging all Temple Sinai members in focus […]
On Purim
This week in much of the adult learning I have facilitated, we have wrestled with questions of boundaries. I spoke at a Christian college in Reno last week and had the students compare the words of Rabbi Hillel and Jesus. Rabbi Hillel said: “What is hateful to you do not do unto others.” For Christians, […]
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