Daily Kavanah – Friday, November 29, 2024
In October 1863, in the midst of our nation’s bloodiest war, President Abraham Lincoln officially declared Thanksgiving a national holiday to be observed on the fourth Thursday of November in perpetuity. Even in a [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, November 22, 2024
“Sarah’s lifetime—the span of Sarah’s life—came to one hundred and twenty-seven years. Sarah died in Kiriath-arba—now Hebron—in the land of Canaan; and Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah and to bewail her. Then Abraham rose [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, November 15, 2024
One of the most troubling passages in our Torah is found in this week’s portion, Vayera: God commands Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac.We read this story every year on Rosh Hashanah. It appears in Chapter [...]
The Gratitude List
Rabbi Yoshi shares his Yom Kippur Yizkor sermon which honors the memory of his mother, Hermene Davis Zweiback, who died 25 years ago. A few weeks before the Jewish New [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, November 8, 2024
According to some traditions, there are 600,000 letters in the Torah, corresponding to the number mentioned in the book of Exodus of male Israelites of fighting age who left Egypt in the time of Moses. Rabbi [...]
Daily Kavanah – Thursday, November 7, 2024
וְאֶֽעֶשְׂךָ֙ לְג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל וַאֲבָ֣רֶכְךָ֔ וַאֲגַדְּלָ֖ה שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה׃ I will make of you a great nation! And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing! Genesis 12:2 [...]
Daily Kavanah – Wedneday, November 6, 2024
Every election brings results that include outcomes we desired as well as those we hadn’t hoped for. I know, having already heard from members of our community, that this is the case for many of [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, November 1, 2024
I remember, decades ago, when I was learning how to type on an actual typewriter as part of our middle school required curriculum, making so many mistakes on a particular typing assignment that—out of [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, October 25, 2024
It’s right there in the Torah. It’s a mitzvah to celebrate at this time. Deuteronomy chapter 16 teaches that on Sukkot, “ וְשָׂמַחְתָּ בְּחַגֶּךָ – you shall rejoice in your festival.” Later the sages added another [...]
Search for Meaning with Peter Himmelman
Peter Himmelman is a Grammy and Emmy nominated singer-songwriter, visual artist, best-selling author, film composer, entrepreneur, and rock and roll performer with over 20 critically acclaimed recordings to his credit. In [...]