Rethinking “spiritual” communities—Jewish women’s wisdom circles

Ariele Mortkowitz 0 Comments

In 2018, after a fall full of Jewish holidays, six women sat around a kitchen table in Washington, D.C. to answer two questions: What are Jewish women* missing and needing in a communal setting most urgently in this moment? And how do we ensure that the structure of “Jewish community” is operating as a tool to empower individual women by coming together as a collective? These two questions formed the backbone of SVIVAH, and inform our programming to this day. We gathered women from across the greater Washington DC area and centered the conversations between the people in the room, using our fantastic educators as connectors and facilitators, rather than as centerpieces. We decided that one of SVIVAH’s pillars needed to be a commitment to […]

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Rethinking ‘spiritual’ communities — a Jewish eco-village

Kohenet Sephirah Stacey Oshkello 0 Comments

The Living Tree Alliance (LTA) is a Jewish cohousing village in central Vermont that weaves together a residential community with a working homestead and a nonprofit educational center. The idea took shape in 1997 when, on our second date, my future husband Craig and I realized that we shared a dream of living in an intentional community, intimately connected to ecology and spirituality. For the next 10 years, Craig and I nourished our vision for LTA, developing practical skills while following our hearts. After apprenticing on an organic CSA with an affordable housing initiative on the West Coast, we made our way back to the Northeast to be closer to family. We were fortunate to meet the Davises, an experienced farming couple with three beautiful […]

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Creativity as a Window Into All That Can Be

Rabbi Bec Richman 0 Comments

Recently, my three-year-old began the splendid quest to understand the world around him, with the word “why” now the most commonly spoken word and question in our house. I will admit, it can be exhausting, the seemingly endless echo of this one-word question. There are times when I feel like I’ve run out of answers, that I don’t know enough, and that I don’t have the energy to dig into the questions with him. But ultimately, I continue to find myself in awe and inspired at Netta’s shameless and persistent curiosity; at his humble admission that he does not know and at his yearning to be filled with new knowing. In one of the infamous dreams in Torah, Jacob sees a stairway extending from the […]

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Between the Pulpit and the Stage

Rabba Rachel Kohl Finegold 0 Comments

As rabbinic school enrollment has dropped dramatically over the past number of years, it seems that fewer and fewer young people are looking to make a career in Jewish spiritual leadership. While some have posited that the non-denominational rabbinical schools are faring better than the others, there is still an overall decrease in those currently training as rabbis, which raises the question of what this will mean for the future of Jewish communal institutions. Several solutions have been offered, including lowering tuition for rabbinical schools as well as urging more experienced rabbis to mentor young people toward a career in the rabbinate. Something that is often missing from this discourse is an acknowledgment of the sacrifices we often ask of rabbis and other clergy who […]

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Experiencing Shiva with A Sacred Fire

Rabbi Dan Goldblatt 0 Comments

Growing up in an observant Jewish community, attending a shiva gathering was not an unusual occurrence.  When I first became a congregational rabbi, I discovered that many people in my community had no experience attending a shiva minyan.  We began educating people about the power of this gathering following the funeral of a close loved one.  What we discovered was that every time someone had a significant loss and experienced the soul comfort of a shivagathering, they became committed to and strong advocates for shiva gatherings for others.  Now, thirty years later, my community understands the sacredness and the power of this essential communal support.  And still, I often feel that once the evening prayer service portion of the shiva is concluded – and this […]

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Mishkan Chicago: The Growing Pains of a Synagogue Start-Up

Rabbi Stephen Philp 0 Comments

One of the climactic moments of the Torah comes at the end of the book of Exodus when, after a long process of assembling the materials for and constructing the mishkan, the presence of God comes to fill this sacred meeting place that the Israelites have created in the center of their camp. One could make a compelling case that we should end the story here. From the middle of Genesis to the closing chapters of Exodus, our ancestors have transitioned from a small, extended family to a relatively large, multi-ethnic people – a “mixed multitude” that has journeyed from slavery, to redemption, to revelation. It’s a good (and happy) ending. Yet the Torah contains another three books, whose narrative arc will carry us through […]

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Sinai Circles: Engaging Synagogue Members

Rabbi Jay TelRav 0 Comments

We are not a gym Like many rabbis and congregational lay leaders, I am watching the trends of synagogue member involvement very closely.  It is no surprise to any reader that what used to work is no longer working. But is it even fair to say that it “used to work”?  We built buildings that were pragmatic and honest – a reasonably-sized sanctuary that could expand for a couple of days a year to accommodate attendance on the High Holydays. Is that what high-functioning looks like? At Temple Sinai in Stamford, CT, we have about 1200 individuals on our membership roster and we see about 50 regular attendees to prayer services, with many others dropping by as their heart needs it.  Our religious education program […]

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The Wellfont of Overflowing Love

Rabbi Andrew Hahn 0 Comments

Note: This essay was originally crafted in preparation for a national gathering of Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network that took place in March of 2020. It was a response to Rabbi Sid Schwarz’ opening chapter in his book, Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future. I found the last of the four propositions Rabbi Sid offered there, namely, the need we have in the 21st century to foster “Lives of Sacred Purpose/Kedushah” most in alignment with my work as the “Kirtan Rabbi.” I began my response—my petichta, if you will—with an experiential vignette drawn from my practice of tai chi. I then went on to use a story of the “conversion” of one of the major students of the Vilna Gaon to […]

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The Blessings and Opportunities of Working With Interfaith Couples

Rabbi Shira Stutman 0 Comments

Working with interfaith couples is one of the great joys of my rabbinate. Each conversation with an interfaith couple–and at this point, I’ve probably worked with well over a thousand–reminds me that Judaism should be a proactive, spiritually growthful, human-oriented practice, and not just the flotsam and jetsam of family history and communal memory. Even as interfaith couples can be a blessing to the Jewish people, however, there often are religious and/or cultural conflicts. The longer I have worked with these couples, the more I noticed some patterns emerging from their specific concerns. “On the surface, this conflict seems to be about X,” I’d find myself saying, year after year, “but I think what you’re really talking about is Y.” Over time, I’ve come to […]

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A Conspiracy of Hope in San Francisco

Rabbi Michael Lezak 3 Comments

“There is no moral distance … between the facts of life in San Francisco and the facts of life in Birmingham.         -James Baldwin, Take This Hammer (1965) ‘…After that, you shall be called City of Righteousness, Faithful City…’ -Isaiah 1:26 Every Friday morning, a group of volunteers from The Kitchen (a congregation founded by my wife, Rabbi Noa Kushner) bakes 100+ challahs in the GLIDE basement. Before we distribute this hot Jewish-sabbath bread to a largely non-Jewish staff and hungry clientele, volunteers and staff gather in a circle in a small storage room. Before we recite the motzi in Hebrew and English (and occasionally Arabic), I invite all gathered (Jews and non-Jews) to reflect on the week that is ending and to share […]

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