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, January 17, 2024
It has been over 100 days since Oct 7 and the abduction of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Wise has created this beautiful prayer and song to express our solidarity with the hostages and their families and our fervent desire for a safe return. On Pharaoh's Daughter The ancient rabbis loved a textual vacuum. When a Torah character’s biography was obscure, those creative rabbis filled it with midrash. Such is the case with the vaguely referenced “Pharaoh’s daughter.” The unnamed daughter of the unnamed pharaoh was ripe for their imaginations. Who was this mysterious character that rescued the redeemer of the Hebrew slaves from the waters of the Nile? First, they gave her a name: Bityah – daughter of God! A high honor for an Egyptian and reflective of her role in nurturing the great Moses. (Incidentally, the 1956 blockbuster The Ten Commandments Anglicized the Hebrew and called her Bithiah). The rabbis loved the irony of [...]
Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, January 16, 2024
It has been over 100 days since Oct 7 and the abduction of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Wise has created this beautiful prayer and song to express our solidarity with the hostages and their families and our fervent desire for a safe return.On PharaohFor those of us who remember the movie “The Ten Commandments,” we have an unshakable image of Yul Brenner as the pharaoh Ramses. Reflecting the historical assumptions of its time, this 1956 film led subsequent generations to believe that the Pharaoh of the Exodus actually could be identified with a particular historical figure. Now, nearly 70 years later, modern scholars caution against linking the Torah’s generic term “pharaoh” with an actual Egyptian figure. In fact, what is most notable is that the pharaohs in the Joseph story and the Moses story are not named. Professor of Bible Israel Knohl of the Hebrew University suggests that the Torah’s pharaohs are likely [...]
Daily Kavanah – Monday, January 15, 2024
It has been over 100 days since Oct 7 and the abduction of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Wise has created this beautiful prayer and song to express our solidarity with the hostages and their families and our fervent desire for a safe return. On Moses “Torah does not provide all the answers, but it inspires us to ask very important questions.” That’s my favored framing for how we can understand Torah as modern Jews. I recently read an essay by Prof. Rabbi Jonathan Magonet of Leo Baeck College in London that emphasized aspects of Moses’ character that revealed qualities I’d never noticed before. As a text with multiple authors writing over centuries, the Torah is a rich composite of perspectives that can either be segmented into its many components or interpreted in its entirety. Think of the ways that we view a mosaic: stand close and we see the qualities of each tile, step back [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, January 12, 2024
I remember a conversation I had with my Uncle Alan a few years before he died. We were discussing a challenging moment that someone close to us had recently gone through and he said, “Well, in a lifetime of disappointments, this will just be another one.”It made me laugh, the kind of laugh that has a little sadness mixed in.Life is filled with disappointments, big and little. This week’s Torah portion describes one that Moses experiences early in his tenure as leader of Am Yisrael. He goes before Pharaoh, just as God has instructed him, and asks Pharaoh to let his people go. But he discovers that leadership is harder and more unpredictable than he had expected. Instead of granting his wish, Pharaoh makes things even harder for the Israelites, demanding that they make as many bricks as before but without straw, an impossible task. Moses asks God: “Why did [...]
Daily Kavanah – Thursday, January 11, 2024
Tonight begins Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat, the beginning of the Hebrew lunar month. This week, we’ve been exploring the history behind the month and the questions it poses for the modern Jew. With its celebration of Tu b’Sh’vat (ט"ו בשבט), the Jewish New Year for Trees, the month of Sh’vat brings an increased awareness of our responsibility – achrayut – for the earth. Achrayut may come from the Hebrew word for other – acher – or the Hebrew word for after – achar. In either case, fulfilling our role as caretakers of the earth represents an act of achraiyut, preserving the wonders of creation to share with others in the present and in perpetuity. In our Center for Youth Engagement, families learn about achrayut through discovering many ways they may exercise care for the earth, through weeding and planting our Peah garden (the garden located near our parking garage), through lessons on curbing food and water waste, through pickling and jamming to avoid wasting fruits and vegetables, and [...]