Daily Kavanot
Writings of reflection by the Stephen Wise Temple clergy.
Each weekday morning, members of our mailing list receive the “Daily Kavanah,” which includes messages of thought, inspiration, and contemplation from our clergy, along with a schedule of events. Every Thursday, the “Daily Kavanah” turns into “Eyes on Wise,” our weekly newsletter featuring the latest news, photos, videos, stories, and tikkun olam opportunities from our community. Sign up and don’t miss out!
Daily Kavanah – Monday, February 24, 2025
וְעַתָּ֣ה מַה־קִּוִּ֣יתִי אֲדֹנָ֑י תּ֝וֹחַלְתִּ֗י לְךָ֣ הִֽיא׃ What, then, can I count on, God? In You my hope lies (Psalm 39:8). For the past 500+ days, Shiri Bibas and her boys have been the first image I see behind my eyelids before waking, my first thought in the morning, my first prayer. When Hamas officially announced their deaths last week—along with the death of Oded Lifshitz, a beloved great-grandfather and peace activist—I was overwhelmed with grief, consumed by sorrow (which of course grew when we had to wait an extra day for Shiri’s real body to return home). Our existence feels unbearably fragile when our babies, parents, and grandparents can be torn from our arms. And yet, even in the wake of this unimaginable loss, I am forever changed, especially by Shiri—by her strength, by her love, by her impossible courage. Somehow, even in the face of such horror, the [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, February 21, 2025
On Tuesday, January 7, I was sitting in our clergy meeting when Rabbi Sari elbowed me and said, “You need to call your parents. There’s a big fire in the Palisades, and there’s an evacuation order.” I jumped up, left the room, and called them immediately. My parents were already gathering their belongings, preparing to leave. Thankfully, a thoughtful neighbor had warned them even before the official order, urging them to evacuate.I’ve never felt so helpless. Should I remind my mom to grab my Bat Mitzvah album? Or should I tell her to leave everything behind and just get in the car? She was overwhelmed, so she grabbed what she could and left—leaving behind essentials like hearing aid chargers and my dad’s walking cane, as well as sentimental treasures like photo albums and keepsakes. From this, I learned an important lesson: never say, “It’s just stuff, as long as you’re [...]
Daily Kavanah – Thursday, February 20, 2025
As a rabbi, I have long been committed to not offering “the Jewish view” on just about anything. We are and always have been a multivalenced, multivocal tradition, and rarely does our tradition truly speak with a monolithic voice. But when it comes to the Exodus and its main lesson, I think there is a Jewish view, and a singular Jewish experience. If there is a single overarching lesson of the Torah, it is this: We are commanded to empathy.וְגֵ֖ר לֹ֣א תִלְחָ֑ץ וְאַתֶּ֗ם יְדַעְתֶּם֙ אֶת־נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַגֵּ֔ר כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃"You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the Land of Egypt" (Ex.23:9)Famously cited for being repeated 36, though some say 46, times in the Torah, this verse is fairly brought to teach Jewish values around welcoming, around immigration, and around protecting the most vulnerable in society. The Judaism of [...]
Daily Kavanah – Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Rabbi Hilly Haber, in writing about Parashat Mishpatim reminds us that: This week’s parashah, Mishpatim, takes place against the backdrop of one of those “in-between” spaces. It sets forth laws given at Mt. Sinai as the Israelites journey through the wilderness from slavery in Egypt to an unknown future in their own land…As Gloria Anzaldúa reminds us, the borderlands are a place of both pain and joy, a literal and poetic landscape in which imagination and possibility take root. While I love nothing more than teaching about the spaces betwixt and between, I am struck today—this week, this year, this Repro Shabbat—by the Torah’s imperative to move forward. Unlike Anzaldúa, who perhaps remains in that borderland, we are progressing. In their resources for this Repro Shabbat, the National Council of Jewish Women shared this song, inspired by Psalm 37. With a refrain of “we won’t go back,” it is presented as a call to [...]
Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, February 18, 2025
In a discussion about this week’s parasha, Rabbi Rick Jacobs (the president of the Union for Reform Judaism), speaks about the sometimes complicated relationship between Reform Judaism and the notion of obligation. Because Reform Judaism developed as an ideology of choice rather than commandment, it is sometimes accused of being a buffet of Judaism, where we pick and choose the things we like, or the ones that come naturally to us—and reject the commandments that are hard or inconvenient. It will not surprise you, I think, that this is a characterization that I reject, wholeheartedly. The Reform Jews—and Reform Judaism—that I love and try to teach is a rigorous one, a faith and an ideology that is continually trying to live an authentic Jewish life in a modern and complicated world. As Rabbi Jacobs says, we are trying to live Jewish lives of depth and courage. But when it comes to [...]