Blog

I was at Camp Coleman when the unmistakable sound of the banjo pierced the solitude of my walk. I was heading from the staff area to meet with my assigned group and knew that we had a guest artist at Coleman, but I didn’t recall that they would be warming up at the Hillman Chapel prior to the service. And, to be perfectly honest, ever since seeing the movie Deliverance, I grow a bit weary when I hear banjo in the setting of the North...Read more...

Lately, I find myself watching late-night episodes of the hit Netflix series "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo".

Kondo’s philosophy happens to fit quite nicely with the theme of Passover. She teaches: 
Keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark joy. Thank them for their service–then let them go.

Passover, as we all well know, is about redemption and freedom. It hearkens...Read more...

Raised in a small Jewish community in Texas, it was not until I started attending NFTY events that I first met a “real live rabbi.” My first opportunities to meaningfully interact with clergy did not occur until a few years after college while working as the Assistant Director of Greene Family Camp and the regional advisor for TOFTY. So when I made the decision to apply to HUC, aside from the ‘glorious’ images painted by camp faculty...Read more...

“Eight days a week, I l-uh-uh-uh-uh-ove you,” a great Beatles lyric that really emphasizes that there is no real way to articulate how much we can love. It’s beyond what we can measure, kind of like infinity. Who knew that the Beatles were so Torah-minded? I say that because this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Shemini, has in its root, the word Shemoneh, which means eight. The scene takes place on the eighth day of...Read more...

Rabbi Ron Segal will be installed as the President of the CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis) on Monday, April 1, and will serve a two-year term. Here he answers our most pressing questions about this new and exciting role.

1.  Tell us a bit about the...Read more...

Perhaps it's because I am so taken with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s song “Shallow”, but I have been absolutely preoccupied lately with music. Whether it is the music playing in the car on the way home that detaches me from the day, or the music that plays in the background during sermon writing, I am very intentional and deliberate about my musical choices, as I am sure is true with each of us. Our musical tastes reflect the...Read more...

Throughout middle school and high school, I was known endearingly as “Shabs.” When I finished rabbinical school and moved to Atlanta, Shabs evolved to Rabbi Sam, but the people I have known the longest still call me Shabs. I wondered what would happen to my identity if I were to adopt my husband’s last name...what would happen to the part of me that was Shabs? Would that old piece of me be lost forever? I took these questions seriously,...Read more...

In our Torah reading for this week, Terumah, we find the people of Israel standing at the foot of Mount Sinai, offering gifts of importance to help build a Tabernacle, a portable sanctuary. The people assembled were newly-freed slaves with meager resources. But when presented with the opportunity to make a difference, they gave what they could and in turn, created a thing of beauty.
 
We are once again living the words of our...Read more...

It is beshert (meant to be) that the story of our enslavement and redemption from slavery in Torah fall around the time of our national observation and celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s life. There are so many parallels in these stories. Both the Jewish people and our African American brothers and sisters have borrowed songs and texts from one another throughout American history to expose the harshness of slavery, to capture the hope...Read more...

It is a great joy to officially be back at Temple Sinai after three months of parental leave. It was a weird 3 months; the days were both very long and very short.

One of the more challenging days of parental leave was the day that our puppy Huck was hit by a car. Huck was horribly wounded and needed emergency surgery. To complicate the situation, my husband was headed out of town that evening. I suddenly found myself alone, with a...Read more...

The start of a new year brings with it an opportunity to start over, to rededicate ourselves to that which is most important in our lives; to remind ourselves that we can free ourselves of the burdensome patterns that tend to overtake us. We can start fresh, adopting new patterns, dedicating ourselves with intentionality to people and pursuits that help us to fill our days with meaning.

I’ve been having conversations lately with a...Read more...

To our boys we say, “May you be like Ephraim and Menashe,” and to our girls we say, “May you be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah.” These are the traditional blessings we give our children on Shabbat. Why Ephraim and Menashe? Why not Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? In this week’s Torah portion we read about the end of Jacob’s life and how he blesses his children and even his grandchildren, Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Menashe....Read more...

It is at this point of the year that nightfall seems to come ever earlier and grow progressively darker with each passing day.  This year, though, it similarly - and alarmingly – strikes me that many parts of our country and world are also experiencing a kind of darkness that seems to intensify with each passing day.  Thus, I’ve been awaiting with even greater anticipation than usual the arrival of this year’s Chanukah season...Read more...

I just returned from a vacation in Barcelona. It is a magical city rich with art, architecture and music that I greatly enjoyed. One afternoon, we wound through the gothic streets to the old Jewish quarter where there is a Jewish museum. This museum was small - two rooms not much bigger than my office. Originating in the 6th century, the Ancient Synagogue in Barcelona is the oldest in Spain and one of only five medieval synagogues that exist...Read more...

It is hard to put into words how many of us feel following a weekend in which we witnessed the most lethal act of anti-Semitism in the history of the United States. The tragic mass shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh finds us searching for words to find comfort amidst the shock, to offer consolation to others amidst our own mourning, and to find healing while we feel so...Read more...