Dear Friends,

The Hebrew translation of the phrase, “I am sorry,” is selicha.  It is a concept that weighs heavy on our minds during this season.

As we begin to prepare ourselves for the High Holy Days, it is important to take time to consider the actions and behaviors of this past year for which we are sorry.  This process will officially begin on Friday night at a special service called,

Selichot (which means “apologies”).  Through special songs and meditations, we will formally mark the beginning of the penitential season.

Please join us this Friday Night, September 11  as we begin our spiritual preparations for this season.

As Americans, September 11 has significance as well.  In commemoration of the attacks on our nation 19 years ago, we will be including a brief memorial service before the kaddish.

On this final Shabbat of 5780, we pray that this complicated and challenging year will end on a note of hope and a sense of renewal for all the world.

Dear Friends,

The Hebrew month of Elul is a time for introspection and spiritual preparation. It is a month-long journey into the soul. We pause; we reflect; we trace back our steps and remember both our proudest and darkest moments. We explore instances in which we excelled and consider situations where we could have done better.

Elul invites us to consider pathways to a New Year that will be filled with blessings of renewal. This is a season of personal transformation, and during this year, when all of our communal opportunities must be virtual, it is doubly important that the personal aspects of this holy season be filled with purpose and meaning.

In this season of Selichot and the final days of Elul, let us commit ourselves to establishing daily preparations for change in ourselves and in the world.

L’Shalom,
Steve

Dear Friends,

Outdoor Learning Classroom

Well Wishes During the Storm
Our challenges in Houston seem to keep getting tougher, but we have been here before. Please consider the following resources: ReadyHarris.org or HoustonOEM.org if you need assistance in making a plan. Please remember that we are here for you at this time. Stay safe.

Dear Friends,

Special High Holy Days Opportunity

While our High Holy Days services will be completely virtual this year, we are providing an opportunity for a special in-person blessing in front of the ark.

Dear Friends,

Hello from the Mountains of New Mexico

Dear Friends,

Tu B’Av, the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Av, has long been associated with love and romance. The origins of this “Jewish Valentine’s Day” are found in the Talmud where it is mentioned as a day for romantic encounters between men and women. It seems to have served as a matchmaking day for unmarried women during the time of the Second Temple (before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.).

Tu B’Av was almost unnoticed in the Jewish calendar for many centuries, but it has been rejuvenated in recent decades, especially in the modern state of Israel. In its modern incarnation Tu B’Av is gradually becoming a Hebrew-Jewish Day of Love, and in a world filled with so much hate, this is a very nice holiday to have!

Wishing you a week filled with love and kindness.

L’Shalom,
Steve

Dear Friends,

Tonight, Jews around the world will begin a 24 hour fast in commemoration of Tishah B’Av. According to our tradition, it was on the 9th of Av that both the First and Second Temples were destroyed – first by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and then by the Romans in the year 70 CE. Jewish tradition further teaches that throughout our history many of the worst atrocities against the Jews fell on Tishah B’Av.

In remembrance of these catastrophes many Jews observe a day-long fast and read from the book of Lamentations, a scroll in which the author bewails the destruction of the First Temple and the exile of the Jews from Jerusalem.

This year, the observance of Tishah B’Av takes on an interesting nuance. The global pandemic has forced every Jew around the world into a brief exile from our temples. We cannot gather for worship, and we cannot gather as a community. This reality brings us face to face with the intense sense of emotional and spiritual loss commemorated through this 2000 year old custom.

The loss of the Temples in ancient times was a catalyst for changes in the trajectory of Jewish history. This crisis will also have lasting impact. So whether we choose to fast or not, we all have an opportunity to pause and consider, what will our faith look like when we finally return to our temples today.

L’Shalom,
Steve

Dear Melissa,

This week, we begin the Book of Deuteronomy. This final book of the Torah is an oration by Moses, who is recounting the entire story of the Israelites from the Exodus from Egypt to the precipice of the Promised Land. According to our tradition, this oration was delivered in a single day to the entire community, and for the sages, the fact that Moses was heard and understood by all was nothing short of a miracle. In contemplating the nature of this miracle, we can imagine two scenarios. Both of which focus on the power of words.

The first scenario argues that a miracle enabled everyone to hear and understand the words of Moses in the same way. This scenario suggests that the language and the delivery of these words were so clear that all who heard them fully understood exactly what to do.

The second scenario suggests that the miracle lay not in the clarity of the message but, rather, in its ambiguity. Here, a miracle is reflected in that fact that a single, Jewish people could evolve from diverse opinions. This scenario suggests that the miracle was not in the moment at the mountain but rather in the passion of a people would conceptually return to that moment as a sacred reference point for all time.

The power and beauty, the meaning and depth of the words of Torah evolve with time. The values and the knowledge we gain from Torah is the result of study, interpretation, dialogue and personal interactions with the text as we strive to understand how these ancient words relate to our lives on a daily basis.

As liberal Jews living in a modern world, we read the same words that our ancestors heard thousands of years ago, but like the Israelites in our story in this first chapter of Deuteronomy, the messages we draw from the text are not monolithic. In fact, they are as diverse and complex as the multitudes which stood at the mountain.

This is the miracle: that we, like our ancestors, can hear the same words, draw different conclusions and still maintain a sense of peoplehood is something we should recognize as sacred and miraculous. May this miracle of our people ever remain a reality as we – like our ancestors long ago – continue to hear the words of Torah in our own unique ways and translate them into the fabric of our lives.

L’Shalom,
Steve

Dear Friends,

My video blog, Race for the Future, represents a weekly effort to keep issues of social justice at the forefront of our minds. Monday’s posting generated more responses than any to date. This is, perhaps, because this particular posting challenges us to resist distractions from our goals of justice and equality for all.

My blog, however, did not cover everything. After all, only so much can be said in three minutes. Therefore, I wanted to share the following article by Mitch Albom, a nationally recognized author and sports columnist. This is a profoundly important read, which invites us to consider the ongoing work that we need to do as we strive to to address intolerance and hatred in society.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/mitch-albom/2020/07/12/mitch-albom-desean-jacksons-anti-semitic-jewish-hitler/5421550002

Please consider reading this article and re-watching Monday’s Race for the Future.

L’Shalom,
Steve

Dear Friends,

In this week’s Torah portion, we read the story of Pinchas, whose murderous actions frame the way our faith treats religious fanaticism. The narrative of this story begins with God’s anger with the People of Israel for worshiping false idols. God sends a plague as a punishment, and in an effort to placate God, Pinchas (the grandson of Aaron) takes matters into his own hands. In a zealous act of rage, Pinchas impales a couple while they are in bed together.

The murderous act of Pinchas actually works. The plague is lifted, and God extends a brit shalom – a covenant of peace. The story would end here were it not for the horrific idea that out of such violence could come peace.

In response to this troubling story, the calligraphy of the Torah preserves a moral commentary of its own which serves as a cautionary lesson against religious fanaticism. This lesson is woven into the actual calligraphy of the word shalom (see the image above).

This anomaly in the calligraphy is called, the Broken Vav, and it is the only letter in the entire Torah which is intentionally written in a broken and incomplete way. The custom of breaking the Vav in half dates back to the earliest Torah scrolls, and throughout our history the phenomenon of the Broken Vav  has served to teach us that any peace that is attained through acts of violence is considered incomplete and broken.

We live in a world where dreadful actions are constantly being perpetrated and justified in the name of religion. This global phenomenon has no boundaries and is not relegated to any single faith. Zealots are zealots, and their destructive and narrow-minded, hate-filled actions have been in existence throughout human history.

This is something we must keep in mind today, as we strive to work toward sustainable peace at home and abroad.

L’Shalom,
Steve