February 19th, 2016/10 Adar I 5776 As I have explored synagogues around the world, it has been fascinating to observe the different customs of how people dress for services. In some communities, it is common for worshipers to attend Shabbat services in jeans, and in others, a suit or dress is the most appropriate and respectable […]

February 5, 2016/26 szwat 5776  This week, a new chapter of the story of the Jewish people begins. We have made our way from the family stories of Genesis, to Moses and the escape from Egypt. The Jewish people begin their years of wandering through the desert, they have crossed the Sea of Reeds, and they […]

January 29th, 2016/19 Shvat 5776  We know through the rituals and texts of our tradition that Judaism invites us to be on both an inward spiritual journey and also to keep our minds and ears open to the needs of the world around us. The path of Jewish life invites us to be constantly working on […]

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. Joan Walsh Anglund January 22, 2016 This week, on this special Shabbat of Shabbat Shira, we read the story of the Israelites crossing the Sea of Reeds. After the community experiences this miracle, they gather together to sing with […]

January 8th, 2016/27 Tevet 5776  I always find the timing of the weekly Torah portions so fascinating. Here in the midst of the cold of winter with snow on the ground here in Warsaw, we read Parshat Va’eira. We are transported into the desert, to the beginning of the story of the Exodus from Egypt […]