The Still Small Voice of the Shofar

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 3, 2022 | Elul, Faith, Holiness, Prayer, Psalms, Purity, Repentance, Rosh Hashana, Tests and Trials

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz I had the remarkable merit of learning in Yeshiva (school for Torah study) with Barya Shachter, now a truly inspirational leader of a spiritual community. He is the son of Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi, the dynamic founder of the Jewish...

The Unlikely Connection Between a Captive Woman and the Hebrew Month of Elul

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 9, 2022 | Elul, God, Marriage and Relationships, Mourning, Repentance, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz Dani is a member of our small synagogue and every Shabbat, when we gather together after morning prayers, he jumps up and gives a speech on the weekly Torah portion. It isn’t nice to say, but his speeches drive me crazy. It always seems like...

The Month of Return

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 28, 2022 | Elul, God, Prayer, Repentance, Rosh Hashana, Song of Songs, Tishrei, Yom Kippur

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz Anticipation and preparation are two words I have always had difficulty with. In Yeshiva (Jewish school for Torah learning), my rabbi called me “do-ish.” I have a tendency to jump right in and figure things out as I go along....

Mourning My Temple: Why We Are Still Crying 2,000 Years Later

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 15, 2022 | Mourning, Tammuz, Temple

My son had his blanky; the blanket he used in the crib when a baby. Over the years, we tried to replace it but to no avail. Now that he was ten years old, we had given up on replacing the now-tattered piece of cloth. I tried half-heartedly to protest when I saw him...

The Omer Wave Offering

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 13, 2022 | Emor, Nisan, Passover, Temple

The Omer, a biblical measurement of approximately 43 ounces, refers to the wave offering of barley that was brought to the Temple along with a sacrifice of a lamb. Before Passover, emissaries of the Sanhedrin would go out to the field of barley and tie the grain into...

The Fast of the Firstborn

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 10, 2022 | Bo, Nisan, Passover, Responsibility, Temple

On the eve of Passover, firstborn sons fast from sunrise to sunset in commemoration of the salvation of the Israelite firstborns during the Plague of the Firstborn in Egypt. Unlike all other Jewish fast days, only firstborn children are required to fast on the Fast of...