Our hearts are breaking at the news of children of weary refugees who have become pawns in an immigration system, which has been broken for a long time. Our Torah teaches: “You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the Land of Egypt” (Deut. 10:19) and “You shall not oppress the stranger, for […]
To Be Commanded
In my last month as the rabbi of Temple Sinai, Reno, I am officiating a number of b’nei mitzvah and conversions – life cycle events that open the door to Jewish engagement and commitment. One question often comes up in preparing for both events is what it means to become obligated in the commandments. What […]
Learning from One Another
Warm greetings to you and your family from New Haven, CT! I hope you have enjoyed the beginning of a meaningful Pesach, and are feeling freer and freer with every crunch of matzah. I look forward to seeing many of you at services and at the Bat Mitzvah next Shabbat! In the meantime, here are […]
Rabbi Bair’s Parental Leave
Dear Temple Sinai Community, Firstly, if you are considering attending the Temple Sinai Annual Passover Seder at the Atlantis (my last with the congregation), please book your tickets by this Friday and avoid the late registration fee. If you need help affording it, simply call or email me or Passover Seder Planning Committee chair, Suzy […]
Betzalel Models Leadership from the Middle
In this week’s parsha, Vayakheil-Pekudei, God fills the visionary leader Betzalel with “Godly spirit, with wisdom, insight and knowledge, and with every craft” to perform the design and oversee the construction of the Mishkan, the traveling Sanctuary in the wilderness. While Moses and Aaron led “from the top” [famously, Moses oversaw leaders of thousands, hundreds […]
Holidays and Justice
This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim (“laws”) names many of the ethical principles that lie at the foundation of Jewish civilization throughout the ages. These laws include ethics such as not taking a poor person’s coat as surety for a debt (because “in what shall he lie down?”), not taunting or oppressing a stranger, widow or […]
Awareness and Redemption
In Parshat Shmot, the first of the Book of Exodus, the focus shifts from the family of Israel to the people of Israel as a nation. “It came to pass in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. The children of Israel sighed because of their bondage, and they cried […]