News
President’s column
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Gratitude, Again
I haven’t mentioned Mussar practice in months….it seems like it is time to begin again. Repetition is one of the essential parts of this practice. You must identify…
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Joy Abounds
Spring is a time of growth, celebrations, graduations, and special recognition. By the time this Shofar reaches you, the spring flowers will be in their last beautiful display…
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Construction-Demolition-Reconstruction
Judaism is wonderful at celebrating life cycle events and marking the passage of time. By the time you are reading this column, the House will have finally been…
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The Board is Never Bored
One of my favorite jobs as President is to work with our Board and encourage conversations that help TE move forward. The Board’s responsibility is to oversee TE’s…
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5776
Throughout the last year I have written about the Mussar traits of enthusiasm, faith, joy, order, hesed, strength, responsibility, gratitude and awe as I feel they have related…
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Awe – “Yirah”
At this time of the year, we are in the midst of the Days of Awe. This is a particularly appropriate time to think about this Mussar…
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Seder – Order
Summer 2015 “First a person should put his house together, then his town, then the world.” (Rabbi Israel Salanter, founder of Mussar) The word for order –…
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Faith
“Emunah” It seems that discussing a trait like “Faith” with a faith community should be a straight forward task. But in fact, I have had some difficulty. This…
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Responsibility – Achrayut
TE Goes Green (or is at least trying) “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it “,Pirkei Avot 2:2…
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Loving-Kindness
Chesed “Do justice, love loving-kindness, walk humbly with God”, Micah 6:8 This month’s trait of “loving kindness” describes TE so well that it probably doesn’t need to be…
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Strength—Gevurah
“Hazak Hazak V’nit Hazek” “Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened” This is the phrase we say when we reach the end of each book in…
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Joy/”Simcha”
“Real joy comes not from ease or riches, or from the praise of man, but from doing something worthwhile.” — Sir Wilfred Grenfell (1865-1940), English medical missionary …