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, April 30, 2025
Each year, countless Jewish communities around the globe, including ours, read the Natan Alterman poem Magash HaKesef (The Silver Platter), as part of their Yom HaZikaron—Israeli Memorial Day—observance. The poem, which speaks to the price paid to secure and maintain Jewish statehood, quotes Israel’s first president, Chaim Wietzman, who stated, “A state is not handed to people on a silver platter.” Alterman’s poem features two war-torn soldiers, a man and a woman, stepping forward into the midst of a celebration of freedom. When asked for their identities, they quietly reply, “We are the silver platter on which the Jewish state was given.” Alterman’s reminder that Jewish freedom and statehood carries a heavy price has become a cornerstone of Israeli national identity, codified through the calendaring of Yom HaZikaron the day prior to Yom HaAtzmaut—Israeli Independence Day. The juxtaposition of sorrow and elation beckons us to mourn the sacrifices necessary to secure Jewish [...]
Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Yom HaAtzmaut, Year 2 After October 7—A Reflection In the spirit and voice of Rabbi Sari Laufer For Passover, I wrote to you about mixed feelings—about the Jewish imperative to hold multiple truths and experiences in the same moment. While I wrote about Passover, never is this more true on the calendar than the night that Yom HaZikaron turns into Yom HaAtzmaut. From a day of sorrow, with names scrolling endlessly across TV screens, and radio stations playing sad songs, the streets—most years—erupt into joyous chaos. Silly string flies through the air as children and adults alike hit one another, laughingly, with plastic hammers. And yet. I cannot imagine it is ever easy for a bereaved family to make this transition; this year, we have added almost 800 new families who lost a child, a sibling, a spouse, a parent in combat. So, more than ever as Yom HaAtzmaut approaches, [...]
Daily Kavanah – Monday, April 28, 2025
Yom Ha’atzmaut: Hold Fast to Dreams Over the many trips I’ve taken to Israel throughout my lifetime—both long and short—a few experiences stand out vividly. Among the most memorable were the weeks I spent, at 16 years of age, on Kibbutz Tel Qatzir in the Galilee. We plowed fields, hacked banana flowers with machetes, and moved massive sprinklers by hand—all tasks that modern liability protections would likely prohibit today. During a free weekend, I traveled across the region with my beloved and very distant cousin (I admit to harboring a slight and unrequited crush on her). Seeing the land and its people through her eyes and those of her three sisters remains one of my most inspiring encounters with Israel and its people. Like me, the four sisters were grandchildren of Holocaust survivors; our family lineage tracing back to the same great-grandparents. We traveled everywhere by bus, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, April 25, 2025
On April 4, 1969, one year to the day after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a group of Jews and African Americans gathered in the basement of a church in Washington, D.C. to celebrate Passover together. This evening was the beginning of a powerful tradition, the Freedom Seder. The first Freedom Seder wove together the themes of our ancient ancestors’ journey from bondage to freedom with those of modern fights for liberation: the civil rights and women’s equality movements. Over five decades later, we recognize that while progress has been made, there is still much work to be done to achieve true freedom; true equality. This is work that Blacks and Jews (which includes Jews of Color) must do together. To that end, last week, our communities organized an extraordinary evening dedicated to continuing the work. Over 200 people gathered at Stephen Wise Temple in Los [...]
Daily Kavanah – Thursday, April 24, 2025
Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. In Israel it is called Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah, Day (of Remembrance of) the Holocaust and Heroism. It has been 80 years. This column concludes with a request. Three months ago, on January 27, we marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Red Army. The hardened Russian soldiers, accustomed to seeing terrible things in battle, were shocked to see how horrifically the Nazis treated the Jewish inmates. Nine days ago, on April 15, we marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by the British 11th Armored Division. Sixty thousand prisoners—starved and near death—were discovered. Thirteen thousand bodies lay unburied. Just four days earlier, U.S. forces from the 6th Armored Division entered Buchenwald. On May 7, 1945, German armed forces surrendered unconditionally. How do we collectively and properly observe a holiday dedicated to the memory [...]