It is no great revelation to say we are living through phenomenally complicated times, both here in New York and in Israel.  But complicated doesn’t feel like an adequate adjective.  My husband and I studied at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem as part of the Community Leadership Program this past June.  For the first time… Read more »

It hasn’t even been a year since I stood in front of the congregation on Yom Kippur to reflect on my experience in the Yom Kippur War fifty years prior. The following week, I went to Israel to visit family for Sukkot. On Simchat Torah, October 7th, 2023, at 6:30 AM, we woke up to… Read more »

As I embark on three years as your president, During this season we must do more than repent Not just apologies and absolving our sins May this be the time when real learning begins. Up high in the balcony is my preferred seat Our return here means another year is complete Gazing out at pews… Read more »

“Leopards break into the temple and drink all the sacrificial vessels dry; it keeps happening; in the end, it can be calculated in advance and is incorporated into the ritual.” ― Franz Kafka, The Zürau Aphorisms Kafka’s aphorism feels strikingly similar to the Jewish approach to sin and teshuvah. No matter how hard we try,… Read more »

There’s a poem by Yehuda Amichai that I love. It’s untitled, simply numbered “69,” and it appeared in a 1977 volume called Time. The poem is a Bar-Mitzvah poem, a blessing. In it, the speaker begs to kiss his young son once more, “while you still love it,” while the boy is still a soft-skinned… Read more »