Blog

Do you want to live a “greener” life, but don’t know where to start? Check this spot every week for a new “green tip.”

TIP 1: Adjust your thermostat to fight climate change. Reducing your energy usage will help combat global...Read more...

Rabbi Arthur Green wrote about the nature of religious experience in terms of awe, in his book, Seek My Face. He wrote, “[Religious Experience] is as varied as the number of individual humans that there are in the world, and potentially as multiple as there are moments in each of those human lives. In the midst of life, perhaps in a moment of confrontation with birth or death, in seeing great beauties of nature, in love and...Read more...

Last weekend I participated in an interfaith day of learning at Queens University in Charlotte, NC. The gathering was inspired by Nostra Aetate (“In Our Time”), the 1965 Papal decree that sought to change the Roman Catholic Church’s relationship with the Jewish people, by stating that the Jewish people were not guilty of deicide (the killing of Jesus). In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the Church began to own its part in...Read more...

Rabbi Nicole Auerbach writes, “There are [certain moments] in which it is possible to feel fear and reverence and awe in one single, combined inner experience.” Imagine standing on the very edge of an immense canyon and looking down into the vast expanse, while also appreciating the magnificent colors and rock striations, and also considering a time hundreds of thousands of years prior when the river on the canyon floor first began to...Read more...

I have a small confession to make…

I am conflict-avoidant. Conflict makes me profoundly uncomfortable. In fact, if you say something that upsets me, you will rarely know it. I may talk about it ad nauseam with friends and family, but it is rare that I will actually confront the person with whom I am upset.

It seems I already know what I need to work on this year as the High Holidays roll around ;)

In all...Read more...

The mental picture is one I will never forget. It was at the beginning of my first year of rabbinical school in Jerusalem and several of my classmates and I decided to go to the Kotel (Western Wall) in observance of Tisha b’Av, a historical day of fasting which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem two millennia ago (and longer). We were truly unprepared, though, for the scene that greeted us: a throng in...Read more...

To me, summertime has always been about journeys. Trips to camp, the mountains and the beach. Pilgrimages to Israel and meet-ups with friends and family members. So, it is fitting that we always read Parashat Matot-Masei in the midst of the summer months. Matot- Masei recounts in great detail the forty years of Israelite journeys through the desert.

Over the past few weeks, like many of you , I have taken a few trips.  Last...Read more...

Like so many of you, I was shaken and appalled by two incidents impacting our community this week. The first was the distribution of a flyer to homes in certain neighborhoods in Sandy Springs. The flyer, created by The Goyim Defense League, was filled with horrible comments about Jews and was designed to have the most jarring impact. The ADL’s Center on Extremism is monitoring the GDL, though I don’t imagine that knowledge impacts the...Read more...

Shop on the Amazon Smile page online or in the app and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Temple Sinai at no cost to you!

1. Visit smile.amazon.com
2. Sign in with your Amazon.com credentials
3. Type “Temple Sinai Atlanta” in...Read more...

Thank you, Adam and to the members of the PRC, for proposing this elevation and meeting and discussing and taking so many extra steps to make this historic vote a part of our congregation’s reality. I must fully and candidly admit that I did not imagine my rabbinic trajectory would unfold in this manner. After all, my rabbinic mentors and models, and I have had many since my formative years as a child in Cincinnati, had little in common...Read more...

This morning as I opened Instagram, I learned that Jodi, a woman I had once known, passed away at the age of 62. I was not even aware that she was sick. It had been 20 years since we had last spoken, and yet the news still stopped me in my tracks. In the flash of an instant, in the casual motion of scrolling up or down each morning, we can face such surprise and such sadness.  

As we walk through our days, we spend so much...Read more...

As the school year has wrapped up for most and the end-of-year and grad pics are popping up, I find myself reflecting on my teachers. When I think of my best teachers, they were the ones who made me fall in love with a subject and encouraged me to do deeper dives and sharpen or broaden my understanding. While my music teachers were certainly at the top of the list, I also recall with great fondness English and history teachers as well as...Read more...

Once again we find ourselves shocked and shattered by a tragic school shooting. The heartbreak, the tears, and the unimaginable violence scar us anew. In our anguish we all search for any words possible that might provide solace or shelter from this violent storm which seemingly has no end. Though no poet can erase the pain or despair so many are feeling, may words from this tender prayer offer a small measure of comfort:

“El Makor...Read more...

In our Shabbat to Shabbat clergy column two weeks ago, we expressed our profound concern about the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade and the elimination of a woman’s access to abortion that would likely follow, and we invited congregants to attend a rally in support of reproductive freedom.  In the days since that post, we have spoken with individuals in our congregation who, for varying reasons, were dissatisfied with the message...Read more...

At the urging of our beloved Preschool Director, Miss Jamah, I submitted our daughter Maayan to the Gerber Baby Competition. Yes, like many (most!) others out there, I think my kids are pretty cute.

I personally could not think of a more exciting role for my daughter: to work with Gerber to taste-test baby food products before they are released to the market.

While admittedly, a bit self-indulgent, I really thought Maayan had...Read more...

Oh what a night!

How wonderful it was to be able to celebrate the rabbinates of our friends, teachers, and Senior Rabbis Phil Kranz and Ron Segal. Throughout the evening of honor, time and again we heard the refrain relating how lucky we are as a community that we have been and continue to be shaped by their vision, dedication, and friendship. As was shared, Rabbi Segal strives to follow the model set by Rabbi Kranz as he continues to...Read more...