Blog

For those of you who were not with us on the second day of Rosh Hashanah I would like to share with you the remarks I offered during services. It is hard to believe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have passed us by yet again, but it isn’t too late to make a change for the new year! In fact, while it is important to reflect and change our behavior between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it is MORE important to change our ways and reflect...Read more...

Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, the Emory University Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, writes that one year, "while lecturing on the theology of the High Holy Day period, I noticed that a student had written at the top of his notes: the Daze of Ah. I was unsure whether to chastise him for not having done the readings or give him extra credit for offering this insight. For this is exactly how we should approach this time: in a...Read more...

I’ve heard a lot of chatter lately...many people have been commenting “It has been a weird summer.”  For us at Sinai, we can partially attribute this to the construction and our “diaspora” to the Weber School. But on a personal note, I also realized there was something else going on. This was the first summer in a decade where I had not visited Israel. I felt an inner longing, one that I could not quite put my finger on until I...Read more...

This week begins the month of Elul, counting 40 days from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur. These 40 days represent the 40 days that Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the tablets of the commandments. If the High Holy Days were football, we are now firmly in preseason.

Here at Temple Sinai holiday preparations are in full swing, but also, if we really want to “do this,” then our personal preparations need to be in full swing as well....Read more...

I was just at Publix picking up a sandwich. The customer in front of me ordered a Turkey Sandwich. She asked for Provolone Cheese. The man making her sandwich accidently put cheddar on her sandwich. The customer became enraged with the man making her sandwich. The server’s face dropped, and he looked like he was holding back tears, as she berated him.  I watched quietly, my heart aching. What was going on in the server’s life that...Read more...

There is a well-known adage from childhood I suspect most have heard: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.” We of course know the expression to be far from the truth, and in fact, it is the very opposite of what Jewish tradition teaches us concerning the power and significance of our words.

“Mavet v’chayim b’yad lashon – Death and life are in the hand (power) of the tongue,” states a verse...Read more...

“The most profound change came when I turned off the TV. That suddenly transformed the whole Shabbat experience. It wasn’t about the electricity; it had more to do with the noise, the intrusion of the mundane into the sacred.” 
 
“Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?”
“No soup for you!”
“How you doin’?”
“To the moon, Alice!”
“Say goodnight, Gracie!”

Surely at least one...Read more...

A few weeks ago, some friends and I went to a Braves game. None of us are particularly huge baseball fanatics, but we thought it would be fun summer thing to do together. Needless to say, there was a lot of kibitzing going on throughout the game. Our attention vacillated between the field and each other. The uninvited guests of the evening were the heat and humidity which was even by Atlanta standards pretty gross. This prompted my friends to...Read more...

Just two weeks ago, I was sitting in a synagogue in the suburbs of Jerusalem, Kol Haneshama, introducing our Temple Sinai community to this incredible Reform congregation in Israel. I was able to enjoy the service, whose melodies have been among the favorites that we use in our services here in Atlanta, and it was wonderful to have returned once again to my “home away from home” congregation. 
 
Amidst the prayers, the...Read more...

I spent the past few hours pondering my Shabbat Message for this week.  

I went through the past week, combing the days for something exciting to share or teach. As we have just finished marking Shavuot, there are no holidays to speak of for awhile. Intent on finding an exciting topic, I pondered the articles I read, the classes I attended, the powerful life cycle events, the movies and  lunch dates, the baby swim lessons...Read more...

We join together tonight in the midst of the greater Jewish people who are similarly taking stock of time, for we currently mark each day in a period known as the Counting of the Omer. This time had been marked two thousand years ago through the action of Jews in Israel bringing the first of their harvest to The Temple in Jerusalem. Over time, our people have found other ways of counting each of the days of the Omer- some through acts of...Read more...

As you know by now, Temple Sinai’s building is closed for construction. We had our first Shabbat service last week at The Weber School which was lovely and hamish (like home). Just yesterday I saw a picture of our sanctuary stripped bare. It was an empty room, and yet it wasn’t.

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Often, a member of the clergy team will use his or her Shabbat message as an opportunity to invite you to celebrate Shabbat with us AT Temple Sinai. However, this Shabbat we are telling you-please DO NOT come to Temple Sinai!  If you do, you will find a dark and quiet building, with very little furniture. Rather, we invite you to join us at our SUMMER location,  The Weber School. We sincerely hope to share many sacred moments with...Read more...

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...