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A Little Light, and the Work of Bringing It
There is a disagreement in the Talmud about how we should light the Chanukkah candles. Shammai and Hillel, the two leading scholars of their time, agree on the…
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Slach lanu…forgive us before the High Holy Days?
In our tradition, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as the most awe-inspiring and powerful Holy Days of the year. And in our modern reality, they continue…
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Looking back, and looking ahead – celebrating a milestone.
Twenty-five years ago this month, I stood with my classmates on the bimah of West London Synagogue and received my rabbinic ordination, the semikha. Like many newly ordained…
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Counting our days…
Each year, almost quietly, we enter one of the most meaningful stretches of the Jewish calendar: the counting of the Omer. Beginning on the second night of Passover,…
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Learning Together: Why Communal Study Matters Now
A few weeks ago I lost my chavruta, a study partner with whom I learned together throughout the rabbinical school and beyond. Rabbi Dr. Robert Ash was not…
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Wrapping Ourselves in Prayer: The Tallit at Temple Emanuel
One of the most visible and meaningful ritual garments in Jewish life is the tallit, the prayer shawl that many of us wrap around our shoulders during worship.…
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Season of Learning and Connection
The Festivals of the month of Tishrei are over, we got to dance with the Torah scrolls on Simchat Torah, and breathed a little easier as we watched…
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Reflections from Valencia
by Lindsey Sussman, Rabbi Michael Farbman, Olga Markus, Jeffrey Levick and Melissa Perkal Lindsey: l’dor va’dor My first core memory at TE was the Rosh Hashana service I…
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Honoring the past, building the future…
A few weeks ago, at the TE Annual Meeting, I talked about Phil Pivawer z’l and his legacy. Phil served as President of Temple Emanuel twice, over 50…
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Ki MiTzion Tetze Torah…
Back in 2019, when we began the process of restoring our Holocaust Memorial scroll, we discussed the possibility of using the ‘extra’ Torah scroll that will come out…
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I have a voice, my voice is powerful… Attending a L’taken seminar with TE teens.
Olga and I just returned from accompanying nine (!) TE teens at the L’taken seminar of the Religious Action Center in Washington, DC . The Bernard and Audre…
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Finding strength to keep on going —one step at a time…
“It’s been a tough few weeks, and a tough couple of months, and a really tough year…” The world is on fire, the Jewish world is still reeling…