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 – Wednesday, August 24, 2022
As Rabbi Stern alluded to on Monday, our tradition understands that life—and the calendar—is filled with new beginnings; in fact, the rabbis of the Mishnah taught that there were four New Years on the Jewish calendar. Most of us, many having spent upwards of 18 years as students, still look to the beginning of the academic year as a time to refresh, restart, renew. To our Wise School students returning to campus today and tomorrow, to our LAUSD friends who went back last week, to students around the city—welcome back! And to our Aaron Milken Center students, we cannot wait to see you in just a few weeks. To our amazing educators—thank you in advance for all you do! This year, the beginning of school (especially our Wise School K-6th graders!) is perfectly timed for the beginning of the month of Elul, leading up to the High Holy Days. Elul, [...]
Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, August 23, 2022
The Very Beginning – And New Beginnings The first words of the Torah are, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was unformed and void…” (Genesis 1:1-1:2). With those words, God proclaims “creatorship” of the world. This week, our children at Stephen Wise Temple and Schools embark on a new beginning as they return to school. For all of us, soon summer will turn to autumn and, hopefully, daily life will return to normalcy. In addition, we are about four weeks from the High Holy Days and the beginning of a New Year. Those sacred days afford each of us a personal new beginning; an opportunity to “re-create” who we hope to be. I suggest we begin to think about the year gone by and what we aspire to become and do in the year ahead. Rather than initially considering these ideas during [...]
Daily Kavanah – Monday, August 22, 2022
Thousands of years ago, the sage Rabbi Ishmael famously said: כל התחלות קשות … “All beginnings are difficult.” In his context, the venerable ancient affirmed that one mitzvah can lead to another, but a person has to start, and that’s the hardest part. Though we have many “new years” as Jews living in America—the secular year on Jan. 1, the fiscal year on July 1, the seasonal year on Passover, and, of course, the Jewish New Year on Rosh Hashanah—it is the lead-in to the school year and the anticipation of the High Holy Days that engages all of us who are staff at Wise. As the High Holy Days approach, our teachers and school staff prepare for another year of cultivating young minds, and our administration ensures that we are ready to receive hundreds of young people in our schools as well as thousands of worshippers in the preparation [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, August 19, 2022
This Shabbat includes a special blessing announcing the new moon: the Hebrew month of Elul begins next week. We will be including special messages relating to our preparation for the Days of Awe throughout the month of Elul, but today I want to reflect on the actual blessing for the new month. It begins by asking God for all sorts of good things for us and our world: health, long life, peace, prosperity, dignity, a love of learning, reverence for God, and the hope that our people might be gathered together from all around the world in unity. We call upon God—the one who showered these blessings on our ancestors—to grace us with the same goodness. And then, just before the name of the new month is declared, as well as the announcement of the precise day of the new moon, comes what for me is the best part, something that appears at [...]
Daily Kavanah – Thursday, August 18, 2022
אָ֣ז יָשִֽׁיר־מֹשֶׁה֩ וּבְנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אֶת־הַשִּׁירָ֤ה הַזֹּאת֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔הֹ "Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to God." —Exodus 15:1 Our biblical text refers many times to the special singing practices of our ancestors. While the sounds of Jewish music have undergone a continuous and steady evolution for as long as our tribe has been gathering, musical expression remains our constant. From the earliest shofar blows, to the musical rituals of the ancient Temple, to every corner of the earth where Jews have convened and celebrated, songs that include our mystical modes and words from our textual tradition continue to be perhaps our deepest well of inspiration, community connection, and shared expression of our yearning for the Divine. This Shabbat, a unique musical duo from Atlanta will join us for a very special summer Shabbat celebration. Rabbi Micah Lapidus, who grew up here at Wise and is now composer-in-residence at [...]