Rabbi’s Message

Community at Temple Israel Rabbi’s Message – October 15, 2026 During the High Holy Days, we ask ourselves some big questions. What needs to change? What deserves more of our attention? How do we want to spend our time meaningfully? Then the holidays end, and the things that kept us busy before are still waiting

Community at Temple Israel Rabbi’s Message – October 8, 2026  The story of Noah is a Biblical favorite, from board books for infants through religious school curricula, and beyond. We come to think of Noah as the man who was righteous beyond his generation, who heeded God, planned ahead, and saved all the animals on the

Community at Temple Israel Rabbi’s Message – October 1, 2026 “Turn it over and turn it over, for everything is in it,” teaches Ben Bag Bag in Pirkei Avot (5:22). Tomorrow, as we celebrate Simchat Torah, we will do that quite literally: unrolling the Torah together, then rolling it back to the beginning for another

Community at Temple Israel Rabbi’s Message – September 24, 2026 I describe the arc of liturgy as being a little like preparing for a sports game: there’s a warm-up, a building through the innings, quarters, etc., and a cool-down at the end. High Holy Days feel a bit like that, too. Elul and Selichot are

Community at Temple Israel Rabbi’s Message – August 20, 2026 This Sunday marks an important moment for our friends at Beth Abraham Synagogue. After sharing our Temple Israel home while work was being completed on their building, they are ready to return to their own building. At 1:30 p.m., they will gather at Temple Israel

Community at Temple Israel Rabbi’s Message – August 13, 2026 Usually when I have a first meeting for a b’nei mitzvah student, it is with a tween and we take a moment to talk about the why of celebrating becoming Bar/Bat/Bet Mitzvah.  On a Monday in October, I gathered with around a dozen folks on Zoom and

Community at Temple Israel Rabbi’s Message – August 6, 2026 Next week we enter the month of Elul, the season that begins our spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days. We hear the shofar. We engage in cheshbon hanefesh, an honest accounting of our lives. We reflect on our relationships—with God, with others, and with ourselves.

Community at Temple Israel Rabbi’s Message – July 23, 2026 Last Yom Kippur, Rabbi Bodney-Halasz spoke about how holiness is found within brokenness.  Today is Tisha B’Av, the day on which Judaism attributes the worst tragedies in our history going back to the destruction of both Temples.  We transition from mourning on this day, to

Community at Temple Israel Rabbi’s Message – July 16, 2026 Have you ever spent several minutes looking for something that was right in front of you?  It happens to me more often than I care to admit.  A few years ago, Scott and I were rushing to get on the road when he couldn’t find his glasses.

Community at Temple Israel Rabbi’s Message -July 2, 2026 As we celebrate the Fourth of July this year, we do so at a remarkable moment in our nation’s history. This Independence Day marks America’s 250th birthday. For American Jews, that anniversary carries particular meaning. For most of Jewish history, Jews lived not as citizens, but