There are those who look out at our country and our world, kvetch and complain, and then turn back inward, content that their kvetching was enough. There are those who see injustice, wring their hands and worry in silence about the effects of this action or that, and then compartmentalize the anxiety and go back …
Standing at the White House Following News that Osama bin Laden was Killed
By Rabbi Paul Kipnes and Michelle November Back at the hotel after a moving video celebrating 50 years of the Religious Action Center and an inspiring speech by Vice President Al Gore, news broke that U.S. Forces had killed Osama bin Laden. We paused briefly to digest the information and to watch CNN. Suddenly our …
Omer Day 11: Stop Doing, and Just Continue “Being”
Today is the 11th day of the Omer, that is 1 week and 4 days. Today is also the day I write my 613th post on this blog. It feels like a mitzvah! A time to pause and reflect: Shabbat Shalom. Can you be at one with the universe? Can you stop doing and just …
Omer Day #10: Responding to the Anti-Semitic and Racist Graffiti at Calabasas High School
Today is Day 10 of the Omer. I also invite you to read my daily reflections as we count the Omer. RABBI’S NOTE: Our community has been following the discovery and investigation of anti-Semitic and racist graffiti with great concern, pain, and anger. Who could believe that here in Calabasas, an enlightened and open community, we would be subjected …
Omer Day #9: Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk… of Kadosh-Holiness
Today is the 9th day of the Omer, that is one week and two days. We are on the journey still, to Mt. Sinai. When we arrive at the 49th/50th day, we experience Matan Torah, receiving the gift of Torah. Among the most distinguishing features of Torah are its imperatives to live an ethical life. …
Omer Day #5: People Stepping Out Toward their Destiny
Today is the fifth day of the Omer, five days into the 49-day journey from Egypt to Sinai to the receiving of Torah. We Jews are a people on the move, journeying from one place to another. Our existence began with a call to set forth: Lech lecha, God said to Avram and Sarai – …
Omer Day #4: Up Off our Tushies, Stepping Forward into the Unknown
Today is day four of the Omer. We have been traveling out of Egypt for four days. Today we really get out into the wilderness. Well, Seder in the Wilderness as the community of Congregation Or Ami calls it. Seder in the Wilderness [pictures here and some video here] is our two day experience away from …
Omer Day #3: Opening Eyes to the Grandeur of Creation
Today is day three of the Omer. [For more on counting the Omer, scroll down to the bottom of this post.] We are walking toward Sinai and, eyes open, begin to notice the wonders which surround us. For the ancient Israelites, these wonders included the vast openness of the wilderness, the sand beneath their …
Omer Day #2: Kvell, Don’t Kvetch
Today is day #2 of the Omer, that counts (and recounts) the journey from Egypt to Mt. Sinai. We embark onward, toward our selves. Today, we think about kvetching and kvelling. Kvetching is that typically Jewish act of complaining, loudly and regularly about things big and small. We kvetch about our families. We kvetch about …
Omer Day #1: Being Present for Each Other
We count the seven times seven weeks (or 49 days) of the Omer, corresponding with the 49 day journey of the Israelites to Mt. Sinai. Counting the Omer is a mystical journey, a journey to our highest selves. This week, we traverse through the sephirah of chesed (kindness and love). Today is day one, the …
Why is there an Oyster on the Seder Plate?
The following Seder reading was adapted from the New York Times article by Paul Greenberg, An Oyster on the Seder Plate? [Lest anyone think otherwise, we did NOT really put an oyster on our Seder plate. However, based on the lesson it teaches, we might have.] Download a printable version of this Haggadah insert. Why …
Glee-ful Seder, Got a Bone to Pick with Passover, and Grandparents Recount Pesach Past: Kipnes/November Seder Ideas 2011
Each year, we try to come up with variations on the Seder’s rituals and themes so that our seder participants will experience anew and reflect more deeply on this year’s Seder. This year’s Seder ideas include a reading on Glee characters as depictions of the Four Children, a new ritual for the Zeroah (shankbone) and …
Urging our Members of Congress to Support Foreign Aid to Israel
I joined the leaders of the major denominations of Judaism to urge our members of Congress to support Foreign Aid to Israel. The letter read: Dear Senator/Representative: As Rabbis in the American Jewish community we write today to express our unified support for the State of Israel and to underscore the vital importance of U.S. …
Schlepping the Distance to Bury the Dead
I schlepped to the middle of… far away… to attend the funeral of the father of some friends. Traffic was bad both ways. Being on my day off, the funeral cut into the little personal time I would have all week. Still, I went. There are no medals for attending someone’s funeral. Like the ritual …
The Antidote to Compassion Fatigue OR Just Get Up Off Your Tush and Get Walking
Five years… Five years of walking to end genocide. Five years of showing up, standing up and demanding an end to the wholesale slaughter of human beings. Five years to contemplate whether our participation makes a difference. There is renewed killing in Darfur. They are still raping women by the hundreds of thousands in the …