We’ve been watching a lot of Frozen 2 at our house, thanks to Disney’s outstanding choice to release it early on their streaming platform. In truth, I was not a huge fan of the first film—I much prefer Moana. But several viewings into Frozen 2, I think it has profound teachings to offer about grief, loss, memory, and love. But going into this Shabbat, I am thinking about one scene in particular. Anna is stuck in a cave, fearing she has lost her sister and about to lose her best friend. Alone and frightened, she remembers advice given to her earlier—that when she is not sure what to do, she should do “the next right thing.” One of the deep challenges of this time is the unknown (also a little Frozen 2 reference, if you didn’t already know); we do not know when it will end, we do not know who will get sick or worse, [...]

In what feels remarkably prescient, the Babylonian Talmud quotes a more ancient text, known as the Wisdom of Ben Sira. Teaching about fear and worry, Ben Sira states: Prevent a crowd from inside your house, do not let many people enter, and do not even bring all your friends into your house. Make sure, however, that a crowd seeks your welfare... I have been consistently thankful that I live in a time of virtual connection; even as we are told to hunker down and stay home, I can—in defiance of Ben Sira, but in the spirit of the Governor’s orders—invite a crowd into my home. I am moved—sometimes to tears—by the efforts of our Wise School teachers to bring my children together on Zoom; I am equally touched by the faces and comments that pop up on various moments of Facebook Live. We hope you will continue to join us, that [...]

Min hametzar karati Yah; anani bamerchav Yah. From the narrow places I called upon God, God answered me from God’s expansiveness. (Psalm 118:5) On Thursday, we welcome a new month, the month of Nisan. If you join us for Thursday Morning Minyan and/or our Wise Women Rosh Hodesh gathering, you will likely hear the words above—a verse from the Psalms that is a part of the Hallel service for Rosh Hodesh and festivals. It seems particularly appropriate this week; we welcome Nisan, the month of spring and of Passover, the month that we as a people travel from slavery to freedom, from metzar—Egypt, constriction, the narrow place—to freedom, to expansiveness. This year, Passover will look and feel different from years past, though we are hard at work on ways to make your Passover as interactive and joyful as possible in this challenging time. In the meantime, I will be singing these words today—a reminder that even from our [...]

“Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. When you recognize uncertainty, you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes–you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others. Hope is an embrace of the unknown and knowable, a alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists.” — Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark When I teach about Shabbat, particularly in an introductory setting, I often teach that we can look at the traditional rules of Shabbat as a list of things we cannot do. That is, to be sure, a way to understand it—that the observance of Shabbat is meant to constrict. Or, I suggest, we can ask ourselves what the space of Shabbat can allow for. What might we do differently, because we are not [...]

The world needs beautiful things. It is the mantra of my friend Rabbi Leah Berkowitz’s book, and it is a truth of the world—always, but especially in uncertain times. Over Shabbat, I found beauty in the sun shining after days of rain, in long (socially distanced) walks with my family and seeing other neighbors and family doing the same, and in the sweet chalk messages popping up around my neighborhood. Where did you find beauty? Where are you finding it right now? Take a picture and tag it with #WiseBeautifulThings, and let’s see how much beauty we can find in the week ahead. Because, the world needs beautiful things. — Rabbi Sari Laufer WATCH RABBI LAUFER'S D'VAR TORAH (3/20/20)