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Healing Prayers Rabbi Cassi Kail rabbikail@bethelsp.org My favorite prayers aren’t the words in the prayer book, sanctified by time and passed down for generations. They are the personal blessings that usher forth from the hearts of individuals grappling with life’s joys and challenges. In the words of Rabbi Naomi Levy, these prayers are “the ones […]
A Promising Future Rabbi Cassi Kail rabbikail@bethelsp.org 2021 comes to an end, I am reflecting on a particularly complicated year. On one hand, it was filled with Coronavirus surges, far too many losses and uncertainties. On the other, it offered the blessings of vaccinations, reopening’s and unprecedented creativity. I am proud of the way our […]
Holiday Connections Rabbi Cassi Kail rabbikail@bethelsp.org In 2013, the Jewish community experienced a rare holiday: Thanksgivikkah. As you might remember, Thanksgiving was the first day of Hanukkah, so families combined the two holidays into a joint celebration. Some of us made Menurkys (A Hanukkah Menorah in the shape of a Turkey) or experimented with pumpkin […]
Riding the Waves Erev Rosh Hashanah 5782/2021 Rabbi Cassi Kail As the High Holy Days approached this year, I struggled to find the words to address this community. I – so rarely without words—wondered what I could say that would meet our needs at this precise moment. One Facebook meme joked that every rabbi should […]
On Diversity and Belonging Rosh Hashanah Morning 5782/2021 Rabbi Cassi Kail In 1997, the novelist George Dawes Green was growing tired of poetry slams. He loved the feel of people coming together and sharing parts of themselves, but he felt disconnected from the high language of poetry. He noticed a moment of high energy and […]
On Cancel Culture Kol Nidrei 5782/2021 Rabbi Cassi Kail Elisha ben Abuya’s story is a cautionary tale. Elisha had been a well-respected scholar whose love for teaching Torah was infectious. In his lessons, he placed particular emphasis on the importance of mitzvot, the ways we act out our faith. Nearly overnight, Elisha’s reputation drastically changed, […]
Shmita: A Sacred Opportunity for Renewal Yom Kippur Morning 5782/2021 Rabbi Cassi Kail It was 5:30 in evening and I had been writing for hours, or at least trying to write. I had composed the same paragraph over and over again, unsatisfied with my work. Time ticked by and I grew more and more frustrated. […]
The Path of a Mourner Yizkor 5782/2021 Rabbi Cassi Kail Mourners didn’t just enter the temple mount. They did so in a special way, a unique way. Whereas everyone else entered to the right, they went around to the left. It sounds like such an insignificant detail, and yet the Talmud insists that it is […]
Camp is Life Rabbi Cassi Kail rabbikail@bethelsp.org “Camp is life. The rest is just details.” I spent ten days in August on faculty at Camp Newman. As I drove up the coast of California, inching closer to Santa Rosa, I felt both my excitement and my nerves rising. I had the pleasure of serving as […]
Elul Project: The Stories of Our Lives Rabbi Cassi Kail rabbikail@bethelsp.org “Storytelling,” explains author Robert McKee, “is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world.” Our Jewish tradition is based on stories. The Torah includes narratives about our people’s moral, spiritual, and communal evolution. It describes tales of struggle and faith, interpersonal challenges […]
