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 10, 2024
This coming Thursday is Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat, the beginning of the Hebrew lunar month. This week, we’ll explore the history behind the month and the questions it poses for the modern Jew. The month of Sh’vat is perhaps best known for the celebration of Tu b’Sh’vat (ט"ו בשבט), the Jewish New Year for trees, which falls upon the fifteenth of Sh’vat. The first mention of this New Year occurs in the Mishnah, a compilation of first and second Century rabbinic teachings about normative Jewish life in antiquity. The Mishnah describes four new years, including the New Year for trees, celebrated on the 15th of Sh’vat, in accordance with the teachings of Hilliel. However, the Mishnah adds that the school of Shammai celebrated the New Year for trees on the first of Sh’vat. This disagreement caused some consternation for the early rabbis, who typically observed the teachings of Hillel but were allowed to follow the teachings of Shammai, [...]
Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, January 9, 2024
This coming Thursday is Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat, the beginning of the Hebrew lunar month. This week, we’ll explore the history behind the month and the questions it poses for the modern Jew. Though the etymology of the Hebrew month Sh’vat almost certainly comes from its Assyro-Babylonian antecedent, the Hebrew root for sh’vat, shin-bet-tet (שבט), represents the basis for several Hebrew words with an array of meanings. In the Bible, שבט refers to a rod or staff used as a weapon, as an instrument for counting and shepherding (most famously in Psalm 23), and as a symbol of authority or prestige. It’s also used on many occasions to refer to the 12 tribes of Israel. How does the same word come to symbolize violence, caretaking, power, and identity all at once? It’s all in how we use the tools at our disposal. A rod or staff may be used for all these things. It can be [...]
Daily Kavanah – Monday, January 8, 2024
This coming Thursday is Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat, the beginning of the Hebrew lunar month. This week, we’ll explore the history behind the month and the questions it poses for the modern Jew. We discover the first recorded mention of the month of Sh’vat in the post-exilic Book of Zechariah, as the prophet identifies the date of his first revelation during the reign of the Persian monarch, Darius. However, scholars suggest that the name for the month, like the rest of the Hebrew calendar, is borrowed from the eleventh month in the Assyro-Babylonian calendar, Araḫ Šabaṭu. Sabatu means “the destroying one,” which refers to the furious rains that reached their highest pitch during this month. The month was also closely associated with the god of rain, and later, the astrological sign of Aquarius. According to the medieval scholar, Rashi, though the month represents the peak of the rain season in Babylon, it [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, January 5, 2024
I think I first learned about the Cambodian genocide when I was in elementary school, probably when I was in fourth grade, in 1979. Maybe it was as part of a current events curriculum, or maybe I saw coverage of it on the nightly news with my parents. By that time, I’d already learned about the Holocaust, so the idea of another genocide wasn’t too difficult to fathom. In time, I would learn about other attempts to exterminate whole peoples in places like Armenia and Rwanda. Yesterday, I took my family to the killing fields just outside of Phnom Penh. In that one location, more than 21,000 souls were brutally murdered by the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1979. Throughout Cambodia, somewhere between 2-3 million people were slaughtered. We saw a memorial where more than 5,000 skulls of the murdered were stacked in silent judgment of a world that largely did nothing to [...]
Daily Kavanah – Thursday, January 4, 2024
While I remember much of a hullabaloo surrounding Y2K, I actually do not remember the front page of the newspaper on January 1, 2000. But, here is a fun fact that I learned recently. First, a little background. For several years in the 1990s, a financial sponsor ran a small ad every Friday in the “New York Times.” Appearing on the bottom corner of the front page, the ad was a reminder — week after week — of the Shabbat candle lighting time for New York City. It read: “Jewish Women: Shabbat candle lighting time this Friday is __ p.m.” Eventually, as is the way of the world of philanthropy, the donor decided to focus their giving elsewhere and, in June 1999, the ad appeared for what was meant to be the very last time. Now, here’s the fun fact. On January 1, 2000, the “New York Times” ran a [...]