Daily Kavanah2024-09-24T08:00:53-07:00

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 – Thursday, June 20, 2024

Today is the summer solstice, which marks the highest tilt of the Earth’s northern pole toward the sun, making it the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Though the solstice represents a day of significance across many religious and ethnic traditions, it bears little import in Judaism, which is based upon a lunar calendar. Nevertheless, the sages were aware of the solstice, and, ironically, feature it in a tale regarding Jewish mysticism: “As Rabbi Joshua walked beside Rabbi Yosi HaKohen along the road, they said, ‘Let us, like our esteemed colleagues, discuss the Work of the Chariot [referring to the mystical inferences from the descriptions of God’s chariot found in Ezekiel 1 and elsewhere]. Rabbi Joshua began to expound. This was the day of the summer solstice. And [though the day of the solstice rarely contained clouds], the heavens filled with clouds, with something like a [...]

June 20th, 2024|Comments Off on Daily Kavanah – Thursday, June 20, 2024

Daily Kavanah – Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Today, our nation celebrates Juneteenth National Independence Day in commemoration of the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas on June 19, 1865 -- freeing the last remaining slaves in the Confederacy. Lincoln first issued the final version of the proclamation on January 1, 1863, but the American Civil War prevented immediate implementation of the proclamation within territories still under Confederacy control. Even General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, failed to dislodge slaveholders in Texas. These slaveholders did not comply with the law until the arrival of Major General Gordon Granger and his 2,000 federal soldiers in Galveston. One year later, those who were freed organized the first annual “Jubilee Day,” now known as Juneteenth. In 2021, it became a federal holiday. The slaveholders’ stubborn resistance against the Emancipation Proclamation, even once Union victory appeared a fait accompli, should not be altogether surprising. Nearly [...]

June 19th, 2024|Comments Off on Daily Kavanah – Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Occasionally, I lose myself when I’m behind the wheel. Overcome with an intense desire to get where I want to go as quickly and safely as possible, I sometimes abandon any sense of compassion or benefit of the doubt which I would typically extend to others. I become judgmental of and reactive to every choice made by my fellow drivers, and sometimes even those of pedestrians. Every inconvenient choice or mistake made on the road feels like a personal, moral insult for which there may be no forgiveness. Then I remember who I am; I draw my hand further from the horn, move my foot closer to the brake pedal, a little embarrassed by my lack of perspective. In this week’s Torah portion, B’ha’alot’cha, our ancestors also lose themselves to desire: “The rabble within their midst craved a deep craving. Then, the Israelites wept and said, ‘If only we had meat [...]

June 18th, 2024|Comments Off on Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Daily Kavanah – Monday, June 17, 2024

When she was a toddler, my niece took her blankie with her everywhere. It went to classes. It went to restaurants. It went on road trips. There was nowhere we could go without blankie, because it made her feel safe. Since young children’s lives are almost entirely managed by their parents, asserting power over an inanimate object, such as a safety blanket, gives children a needed sense of power over their surroundings. Whether it offers companionship or protects them from monsters under the bed, the safety blanket gives our children a sense of control over what’s happening to them. In this week’s Torah portion, B’ha’alot’cha – the third in the Book of Numbers, the Torah describes how the Israelites received a similar gesture of safety: “On the day the Tabernacle was set up, a cloud covered the tabernacle to the tent of testimony. In the evening, something like fire rested over the [...]

June 17th, 2024|Comments Off on Daily Kavanah – Monday, June 17, 2024

Daily Kavanah – Friday, June 14, 2024

Recited in our homes as we welcome Shabbat, on our bimah at b'nai mitzvah and holidays – the Priestly Benediction is right there in this week’s Torah portion, Naso. It’s a text I've studied many times before.May God bless you and keep you.May the light of God’s love shine upon you and be gracious unto you.May God bestow favor upon you and grant you peace, wholeness, shalom.These verses feel different now. I’m reflecting on them 30,000 feet in the air, flying El Al over Europe on my way back “home.”This is my fourth trip to Israel since October 7, and with the war still raging, I’ve received dozens of “red alerts” during the flight over WiFi informing me that Hezbollah is once again firing rockets into northern Israel.So much of what is happening right now is beyond our control, beyond our ability to influence meaningfully. We will of course continue [...]

June 14th, 2024|Comments Off on Daily Kavanah – Friday, June 14, 2024
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