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Reflecting on Our Future Rabbi Douglas Kohn rabbikohn@bethelsp.org Dear Friends, Our year is moving along. It is October, we are reading Genesis, Torah School has been in session for a few weeks, we had an inspiring High Holy Day season, and there is much that we are learning about Temple Beth El. Here are a […]
Imagining What Might Be Rabbi Douglas Kohn rabbikohn@bethelsp.org Dear Friends, This is our High Holy Days—the Season of the Year which we will spend together. What do we want these Holy Days to accomplish? Interestingly, this is rarely a question which we take time to ponder. For most, the High Holy Days are an experience […]
Flight to Excellence Dear Friends, Some messages just stick with you. Here’s one that totally sticks with me. A couple years ago I had the opportunity to learn from a leading synagogue and Jewish communal consultant in Boston regarding the interests of Jews in our 21st century communities. We were considering ways to transform the […]
Everyone Counts Rabbi Douglas Kohn RabbiKohn@bethelsp.org As I ready myself to join you at Temple Beth El in July, I am inspired by the words of the Book of Numbers from which we are reading in the Torah, in which a census of the adult male Israelites is taken in order to know how many […]
My Last Article Rabbi Charles K. Briskin rabbibriskin@bethelsp.org Thirteen years ago, in my first column, I shared a Hasidic story in which a wise rabbi tells a young rabbi the meaning of the young rabbi’s dream, “Your dream of three hundred people calling you rabbi will mean little until those three hundred people share their […]
My Last Confirmation Class Rabbi Charles K. Briskin rabbibriskin@bethelsp.org When I bless Elissa Luce and Leah Hannah at our Service of Confirmation on Friday, May 11, it will be a bittersweet moment as they will represent my last confirmation class at Temple Beth El. I blessed my first class of confirmands in May, 2006. I […]
Israel at 70 Rabbi Charles K. Briskin rabbibriskin@bethelsp.org I don’t like to throw things away. Rather, I like “collecting”. Until recently, I had ten boxes of old New Yorker magazines, neatly organized, filling shelves in my garage. That number is down to five. I now have one single memory box from Kindergarten through 12th grade. […]
Moses the Advocate Rabbi Charles K. Briskin rabbibriskin@bethelsp.org When Moses said to Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” he initiated one of the earliest, if not the first, form of advocacy known to humankind. After ten tries, Pharaoh relented and the Israelites began their journey toward freedom. We mark this extraordinary moment every year when we […]
Purim’s Four Mitzvot Rabbi Charles K. Briskin rabbibriskin@bethelsp.org Once a year I make my annual pilgrimage to the Costume Closet. This treasure trove is housed in the former gymnasium at the Malaga Cove School, and today is home to thousands of costumes and any accouterments that you can think of. Children get their school play […]
Casting Light Rabbi Charles K. Briskin rabbibriskin@bethelsp.org When you are in a darkened room, all it takes is one flickering match to illuminate it just a bit. I thought of this image when we lit a havdalah candle in the Parish Hall at St. Francis Episcopal Church last month. We had just concluded a large […]
