Shema! The watchword of our faith, the Shema, demands us to use our ears and hear the statement being made: God is One. Our central belief tells us to listen. In the Reform siddur, Mishkan Tefilah, the Torah passage that commands us to listen takes up an entire page. At the bottom of that page, there is a note about…
Month: October 2016
Pluralism and Interfaith
A pluralistic and interfaith rabbinate — that’s how I would sum up to colleagues in a few words my professional role these days. As Director of Jewish Family Life of the Mayerson Jewish Community Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, I have the privilege to work each day with people from a variety of backgrounds and across the spectrum of Jewish tradition.…
Journey to Jewish Ethics
I went to rabbinical school not so much to be a rabbi as to find out what I wanted to do and hopefully find my passion. When I was younger, age eight to be exact, I was clear that the best way to change the world was to be a politician. Based on this ambition, I acquired the skills I…
An Ever-Evolving Rabbinate
I was exactly twelve weeks pregnant the day of ordination. Having not been a mother through rabbinical school I had no sense of the profound impact the sacred role parenting would have on my rabbinate. My first year as a rabbi I worked as the Director of Cincinnati Hillel, where I had worked as the rabbinic intern during my fifth…
Back to School
I’m writing these words from my middle school office at The Davis Academy, Atlanta’s Reform Jewish Day School. And as I write, I can hear activity all around me. Chairs being moved in the classroom above me. The Front Desk phone ringing as parents come to grab their kids for end-of-day doctors’ appointments, student athletes picking up their gear before heading…
“Will You Please…”
“Will you please…” Like markers on a trail these three words have dotted the path of my rabbinate. A moment in time where I am forced to stop and feel the presence of vocation and the presence of God. Some stops are fleeting a place to catch my breath — refocus and refresh. “Will you please pass the challah? Will…