By every estimation, California is facing its worst drought in decades. Compounded by the likelihood of devastating heat waves this summer, 2022 will present us with the reality of climate change and the sobering realization that, regardless of our resources, none of us can escape the dangers. Among the themes in Judaism’s morning worship service is the celebration of the world and its magical balance, the cycles of the seasons, and the miracles of daily life. It is a beautiful meditation on the natural world as it is meant to exist. Our ancestors could never imagine a circumstance where human beings could disrupt what they perceived to be a God-ordained eternal order. In fact, until only a couple of decades ago, only a few among us could have envisioned it either. Though there are still a few “climate change deniers,” their ranks are thinning by the minute. Tragically, we have reached a [...]

"Judaism is a sustained struggle, the greatest ever known, against the world that is, in the name of the world that could be, should be, but is not yet. There is no more challenging vocation." These powerful words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks encapsulate his masterful essay on Jewish hope (read the whole essay here). The struggle of which Rabbi Sacks speaks is one that continues to this day. The rabidly racist and antisemitic idea that immigrants, people of color, and Jews are intentionally and deviously destroying America’s essence is at the root of white supremacist terrorism. It is the ideology that drove the murders of innocents at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, and at the Chabad in Poway. It drove the killing at the Walmart in El Paso, and of course, the most recent atrocity at the Tops grocery in Buffalo. In 2021 [...]

If you haven’t read Monday’s Kavanah, please check your inbox and do so before reading this reflection. “Hadestown” is a tragedy. At the end, the lovers are separated, the sun still burns the land dry in summer, and the rains of winter are too short to provide relief. The workers toil endlessly and poverty endures. In short, very little has changed. And yet, the last number suggests we raise a glass to Orpheus. In this song we hear phrases like: Some birds sing when the sun shines bright Our praise is not for them But the ones who sing in the dead of night We raise our cups to them And Some flowers bloom Where the green grass grows Our praise is not for them But the ones who bloom in the bitter snow We raise our cups to them In a performance filled with meaning, these last words provided [...]