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 – Friday, December 22, 2023
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” — Thomas Edison “One more try” is a central message of this week’s Torah portion, Vayigash. Judah is given another chance. He has failed before — a number of times. First, Judah is the brother who suggests they sell Joseph into slavery. Just one chapter later, we read about Judah’s moral failure with Tamar. And now, he has been given another chance. He comes before Pharaoh’s number two to plead for the life of his baby brother, Benjamin. He doesn’t know what we know: the man in whose presence he stands is his own brother, Joseph, the one that he sold into slavery. Judah is given a second chance, an opportunity to do the right thing, to save his brother and spare his father even more grief. Here, finally, [...]
Daily Kavanah – Thursday, December 21, 2023
There is a story in the Talmud of Adam, the first man. It goes as such: “When Adam saw the days gradually getting shorter, he said “Woe is me! Perhaps because I have sinned, the world around me is growing darker and darker, and is about to return to chaos. He then sat for eight days in fast and prayer. But when the winter solstice arrived, and he saw the days getting longer and longer, he said, “Such is the way of the world,” and proceeded to observe eight days of festivities. The years after, he observed both the eight days before and the eight days after the solstice as days of festivity.” — Babylonian Talmud, Avoda Zarah 8a Adam, being the first human experiencing the seasons, fears the darkness, but once the truth is revealed that this is a yearly occurrence, he celebrates both the light and the dark. Tonight is [...]
Daily Kavanah – Wednesday, December 20, 2023
One of the morning prayers we are called to say each day are the words of Modeh Ani. The words are:מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶֽיךָ מֶֽלֶךְ חַי וְקַיָּם שֶׁהֶחֱזַֽרְתָּ בִּי נִשְׁמָתִי בְּחֶמְלָה, רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶֽךָI thank you, God, Sovereign of the universe, for restoring my soul to me with mercy. How great is Your trust.How great is Your trust. When God returns our souls to us each morning, this is an act of divine trust. Trust for us to live and act in this world. Trust in us to live out our values. Trust to take care of ourselves and each other.When we thank God for our souls’ return each day, we also reaffirm our commitment to living true and ethical lives. What a daunting task, but also a beautiful opportunity. How can we grasp firmer this trust from God? How can we begin each day with thanks and joy for the world we [...]
Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, December 19, 2023
In dark times, the Jewish People have been kept not by optimism, but by hope. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said that “optimism and hope are not the same. Optimism is the belief that the world is changing for the better; hope is the belief that, together, we can make the world better.” Tikvah, hope, has always been our guiding light. I remember sitting in Jerusalem listening to a choir sing Hatikvah at a memorial service for fallen soldiers. The overwhelming feeling of grief was present, but what lingered beyond that was hope and a commitment to soldiers currently serving. Hope is not something we all inherently have, but is something everyone present at that service had chosen. And is something we all must choose. The last few months, it has been difficult to choose hope over despair. But I have seen our community at Stephen Wise — and Jewish communities in Israel and around the [...]
Daily Kavanah – Monday, December 18, 2023
As winter persists, our inclination is to continue to seek the light that we warmed ourselves with during Chanukah. This reflex is not incorrect. Judaism seems to be all about light. We are to be a “light unto the nations”; we bring in our holidays by lighting candles, illuminating our hopes and joy. Though we often see darkness as dangerous, concealing what might be out to harm us, Trisha Arlin writes that “over millions of years, organisms evolved to thrive in the dark, eyes big and reflective… flourished under the stars and waning moon.” There is beauty in darkness. It is in darkness we are called to reflect, to process, to recreate. In our Genesis creation story, God does not just create light, but darkness as well, signifying the importance and holiness of both. We see in our morning and evening prayers, Yotzer Or and Maariv Aravim, the significance of both light [...]