By Robin Jacobson. This November marks the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”), considered by many to be the night the Holocaust began. A violent turning point in Nazi Jewish policy, this wave of orchestrated, anti-Jewish riots swept across Germany, Austria, and parts of Czechoslovakia on November 9-10, 1938. This fall, commemorations around …
I am proud to be Jewish, even in these difficult days. In these past days, I have cried with people and sometimes hugged when words felt inadequate. Rabbi Werbin, Hazzan Fradkin and I have spent time with Beth El students and adults responding to the tragedy in Pittsburgh. We have had gatherings in the sanctuary …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. I am bringing a blog by Dr. Joy Ladin who is the Gottesman Professor …
So I was sitting in my office one day with a teen who is involved in our High School A Capella group, Marak Hayom ( Soup of the Day). We were discussing their upcoming repertoire for the year and I asked if she’d heard this version of Hashem Melech by the Y-Studs A Capella group. …
During the High Holidays, I enjoy looking at the kahal (community) gathered. I clearly recall how I felt during my first Rosh Hashana at Beth El and how many strangers were before me. Over many years I have been invited into so many people’s lives. In quiet moments on the bimah, I reflect on the …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. This year feels like a Sukkah Wash-Out… but it didn’t always rain. Below is …
By Robin Jacobson. On Simchat Torah, we reach the end of the Torah and begin reading it anew. The rabbis promise that each year’s reading offers new insights as our life experience broadens. Is it similarly true, I wonder, that remarks our parents made take on new meaning over time? And is there something a …
Congregational Singing It’s the “it phrase” for Hazzanim looking to get a good job out of school and the trend that veteran Cantors have needed to embrace in order to stay relevant. It’s the title of a book by Joey Weisenberg, the musical director of Kehilat Hadar, a vibrant spiritual community in Manhattan. It’s also …
By Robin Jacobson. “I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.” –The Lorax by Dr. Seuss According to tradition, Rosh Hashanah is the birthday celebration of Creation. In one rabbinic tale, God takes Adam on a tour of the Garden of Eden, proudly pointing out its natural splendors and admonishing, “Do not …
Throughout the Torah, the Israelites are reminded “you know the feelings of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Ex 23:9) Thirty-six times in the Torah and throughout our rituals, we are reminded of our ancestors’ hardships in Egypt. These reminders are prompts for us to extend kindness and welcome others …
One of my favorite places in all of Washington, D.C. is the Library of Congress. My first visit was in 1981 and it has been a recurring joy and fascination for me ever since. While on sabbatical a number of years ago, I chose to immerse myself within the riches of the Library’s Hebraic Section. …
And now for something completely different…. A reflection on the High Holidays and a new RH 2nd night Mindfulness Service. The High Holidays. The pinnacle of our yearly davening experience. It is the moment when thousands of us gather to offer our prayers to God with a communal magnitude that only happens 2 or 3 …
I am writing this blog from Syracuse, NY. I am not visiting the Carrier Dome or participating in the 2018 US Bowling Congress Championship (yes, that is actually a thing taking place in Syracuse). I am in the midst of a road trip visiting baseball stadiums large and small. It is my chance to unplug …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. I have spoken many times about the intertwined and complicated relationship American Jews have …
You know those postcards with impossibly beautiful scenery, meant to inspire awe and jealousy in your friends and family? Well, living in Sicily for two weeks is like waking up every morning inside that mail sized marketing campaign. No picture, video, spoken or written word can prepare you for the beauty that awaits you each …
I love the pace of summer. People are enjoying stay-cations and far off travel. The neighborhood ice cream truck magically pierces the heat and humidity which is finally upon us. Even at shul, the summer stride is different. I am afforded space to read, think and plan which is hard to find during the normal …
By Robin Jacobson. Rabbi Akiva (c.50-135 C.E.) is a storied scholar and hero in Jewish tradition. His name appears more than 1,300 times in the Babylonian Talmud alone. Following the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. – a tragedy that threatened to end Judaism – he and other luminaries started down a path …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. This week, all eyes have been focused on the US Constitution. Not only …
There are so many pictures and now there’s even audio to go with it, thanks to Pro Publica’s recent release this week. Kids in cages, kids screaming for their parents, and sad to say, it’s nothing new. What’s new, is the vicious policy of ripping small children from their parents. That’s because the Trump administration …
By Robin Jacobson. Some historical events cast a long shadow, and some words, like “appeasement,” are loaded. Today, whenever a government negotiates with a dictator – whether it’s Kim Jong Un or Bashar al-Assad or another present-day despot – we worry whether making concessions to dictators is “appeasement” that is doomed to fail. Pundits in …
St. Mark’s Portobello is an Episcopal church in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was one of the first Episcopal churches to be built after the Jacobite risings in the 18th century. While I have never visited, there are many pieces of art which adorn this church. Of particular interest is a stained glass window of the biblical figures …
Do you think you know what prayer is? It’s a tough question, and one we try to answer during our Jewish meditation sessions. Maybe it’s time spent in quiet thought, sitting alone in your room, an office maybe or of course, a sanctuary. I’ve found recently, that people of all ages have a really hard …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. This weekend is Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day should not be just another …
The Prayer for the State of Israel was instituted right from the beginning of it’s formation. Credit is given to Rabbis Ben Zion Meir Hai Uziel and Yitzchak HaLevi Herzog for it’s institution. According to the Times of Israel, it was only recently confirmed that Rabbi Herzog is the true author, while Shaya Agnon is …
Today (Thursday) is Lag B’Omer, the 33rd day between Passover and Shavuot. For almost two millennia, it has been a day of celebration attributed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai who lived in the 2nd century CE. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai authored the Zohar which explored the mystical aspects of the Torah. Legend says the Rabbi …
By Robin Jacobson. Every year at Shavuot, when we celebrate the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, we encounter one of the most fascinating, mind-bending, hard-to-wrap-your-head-around concepts in Judaism. At the transcendent moment at Mount Sinai – when God’s voice thundered the words of the covenant – all Jews were present, according to Jewish …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. Organ donation saves lives and Jewish law allows us to donate. Currently, 3 …
It’s a mix of awe and awesome. The setting of the US Capitol emancipation hall; and eclectic range of statues from Frederick Douglas to the gold draped Hawaiian King Kamehameha, who is credited with uniting the islands in the late 18th century. The centerpiece, the statue of freedom, rises 30 feet above the floor and …
By Robin Jacobson. In the two years since our daughter Minna made aliyah, my husband and I have been captivated by her tales of life in Israel. But there is one odd motif that repeats in her stories. Many of Minna’s new friends and acquaintances are into yoga, meditation retreats, overseas travel to sparsely populated …
“My beloved speaks and says to me, Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. For, behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing bird has come and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.” (Shir HaShirim …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. These outside pieces are brought because their ideas are worth struggling with even …
Thoughts and Prayers aren’t enough, but we do need healing and we do need hope. We are extraordinarily proud to support the March For Our Lives that will come to D.C. on March 24th. These teenage leaders emerging from Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL are an inspiration to us all and have clearly …
The hallways and exhibit spaces of the DC Convention Center were energetic with the 18,000 pro-Israel activists attending AIPAC’s annual conference this week. This is a conference I attend each year to understand the nuances of the Middle East, hear the inspirational stories of Israel such as when this tiny county acts as a first …
By Robin Jacobson. Jewish texts and stories, however ancient, often seem eerily relevant to present-day events. This year, the Purim story reads like a newly reported sexual harassment scandal. Beauty pageants! Powerful men demeaning women! Even Queen Esther feels like a modern heroine. Like the women in the #MeToo movement, Esther broke silence, revealed her …
Have you ever davened in Israel ( at Shira Hadasha, Yakar…etc) Have you ever sung in a High School Choir? Have you ever attended a Jewish camp? If so, you have experienced the power of communal singing, a force that moves us to feel something that is often missing. I believe when we sing together …
Finding my expressive ‘voice’ is not an easy undertaking. I do not mean my voice which emerges through my throat. I am focused on my expressive voice which arises from my heart. In this regard, my voice is what makes me or you an interesting conversationalist to some people yet disagreeable to others. My voice …
By Robin Jacobson. “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt” Exod. 23:9. Can reading books and stories help children develop empathy – to care about other people, especially those who are different from them? Recent scientific studies suggest the …
By Robin Jacobson. Children’s literature abounds with whimsical stories about characters that magically wander off the page into the real world. But for some adult book lovers and their special books, something like this actually occurs. Sometimes a book speaks so powerfully to a reader that it infuses and shapes the reader’s everyday life. This …
By Robin Jacobson. With Israel’s 70th birthday approaching, this is a good time to read and celebrate Israeli authors. Over the past several years, Beth El’s Book Club has read some exceptional books by Amos Oz, David Grossman, A.B. Yehoshua, Meir Shalev, and Etgar Keret, each offering a window into the nuances of Israeli culture …
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