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 – Tuesday, June 16, 2020
I was thrown against the wall... Ten years ago I attended a gathering of clergy associated with the PICO National Network (info here). We went to New Orleans five years after hurricane Katrina revealed some of the deepest racial disparities in the local and national response to the devastating event. There, with clergy from across the country, a significant percentage of them Black, I was first exposed to the idea of systemic racism. As the legal scholar and civil rights attorney Michelle Alexander spoke about the premise of her book, The New Jim Crow, I was thrown against the wall by the power of her message and its deeply disturbing content. “Jim Crow” is a term that describes the cultural, economic, and geographic unintended policies and systemic behaviors that result in racial inequality. Alexander uses the term to characterize our current justice system (prisons, courts, police) that ultimately results in huge inequities [...]
Daily Kavanah – Monday, June 15, 2020
Over the next week, Rabbi Ron Stern will share his personal journey into a deeper understanding of the complexities of race in America. It is hoped that you will find both inspiration and cause for personal reflection as you read about his journey. It is important to note that these perspectives are, first and foremost, his own and do not necessarily represent the views of the entire clergy team or the Board; and secondly, that these few days of writings and few paragraphs of reflections are by no means comprehensive nor adequate to grasp the enormity of the challenge and the complexities of the issue—but they capture that we have to continue (or for some, begin) the journey. My grandmother had a maid’s bathroom. I was born in the Jim Crow South. I didn’t know it at the time, of course. We belonged to the country club where we’d go [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, June 12, 2020
“One who shames her neighbor publicly is akin to one who sheds the blood of another.” — Babylonian Talmud Bab Metzia 58B In this week’s parashah, B’haalotecha, we find the Torah’s preeminent tale of lashon harah, the evil tongue: Aaron and Miriam gossip together about their brother, Moses, and his wife, Tzipoorah, before God intervenes to punish the two siblings for the disdain they show their family. The tale underscores Judaism’s concern for preserving human dignity, one eloquently taught by our Talmudic scholars. However, the maxim suggested by the Talmud, “One who shames her neighbor publicly is akin to one who sheds the blood of another,” places far more responsibility upon us than mere avoidance of gossip or slander, as anything that brings shame to another could fall into this category. As such, it becomes imperative to examine our actions, both as individuals and as a collective, to ensure that they promote [...]
Daily Kavanah – Thursday, June 11, 2020
“Should you ask yourselves, ‘How can we know that the oracle was not spoken by Adonai?’ Well, if the prophet speaks in the name of Adonai and the oracle does not come true, that oracle was not spoken by Adonai; the prophet has uttered it presumptuously: do not stand in dread of her.” — Deuteronomy 18:21-22. It appears that even in the Biblical Age, our ancestors confronted the menace of fake news. Unfortunately, judging by the Torah’s reaction to the threat of false prophecy, our forebears appeared to have about as much success dealing with biases, hoaxes, and alternative facts as we do today (namely, very little). I remember confronting journalistic bias for the first time as a college student, reading a New York Times article about an Israeli missile attack upon Hamas. According to the author, Gaza responded to the Israeli aggression by launching a rocket strike, 45 minutes [...]
Daily Kavanah – Wednesday, June 10, 2020
“The face speaks to me and thereby invites me to a relation… the face opens the primordial discourse whose first word is obligation.” — Emmanuel Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 1961. The 20th Century Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas chose the human face as the means of indicating the essential irreducibility of the human being to an abstract concept. All too often, Levinas laments, humans forget that the individual to their right or left, personified by the human face, represents a portal to the infinite. We treat the Others as a means to an end, an obstacle in our path, or a stand-in for a group of people. When we truly engage the face of another human and consider the depth of emotion portrayed by its every subtle move and expression, we are reminded of our innate kinship and of the infinite that resides within us all, as well as our innate responsibility [...]