Wise Words
Writings of reflection by the Stephen Wise Temple clergy.
Each Monday morning, members of our mailing list receive the weekly email “This Week at Wise,” and on Fridays, a “Shabbat Shalom” email from Rabbi Yoshi which include messages of thought, inspiration, and contemplation from our clergy, along with a schedule of events. Sign up and don’t miss out!
Daily Kavanah – Monday, July 14 2025
Like many of you, I am sure, I cannot stop thinking about those sweet little girls at Camp Mystic in Texas, carried away by the floodwaters. I cannot stop thinking about their parents, their friends, their communities. And at the same time, like many parents, I cannot stop checking my “Campanion” app, searching the background for glimpses of my daughter, at sleepaway camp for the first time this summer. It felt surreal to put her on the bus just days after this horrific tragedy. And, I am so, so, so excited for her. It is a painful dichotomy; I am filled with so much hope and joy for her, and such sadness and despair for parents who were probably just like me up until July 3. I know I am not the only one seeing my daughter’s face in those girls; so many of you have reached out to [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, July 11 2025
It is with immense joy and gratitude that I write to you as Cantor Lauren for the very first time. While this is my first Shabbat in this new role, it is not my first Shabbat with you. During the 2022–23 school year, as well as last summer, I had the privilege of serving as your cantorial and education intern. I led worship, worked closely with students and families, and felt deeply embraced by this community. From my very first day on campus, I felt at home. Now, as I step fully into this sacred role, that sense of home only grows stronger. This week’s Torah portion, Parshat Pinchas, includes a powerful and tender moment of transition: God instructs Moses to appoint Joshua as the next leader of the Israelites, describing him as “אֲשֶׁר רוּחַ בּוֹ”—“one in whom there is spirit.” The Hebrew suggests not just any spirit, but a [...]
Daily Kavanah – Monday, July 7 2025
I admit that my phone is often—always?—buzzing with news alerts out of Israel. Earlier this summer, of course, I was getting the same alerts as my Israeli friends of missiles overhead—only I did not need to run to a shelter. Far too often, we are still seeing the words: Permitted to announce, which always precedes the name of a young soldier killed, usually in Gaza. Sometimes, the alerts are more lighthearted, a quick weather update, news of a reality star, or—of course—soccer scores. But, I did not have these apps in 2016, and so I missed this bit of archaeological news. The headlines read: Archaeologists find battle site where Romans breached Jerusalem walls, followed by the subheader: “Discovery confirms Josephus’s account of the conflict that saw destruction of Second Temple nearly 2,000 years ago,” says Israeli Antiquities Authority. On Sunday (July 13), Jews around the world will observe the minor fast [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, July 4 2025
Shabbat Shalom, Today marks 249 years of our independence as a nation.] We give thanks for the blessings of freedom, and we reflect on the founding ideals that have shaped America—ideals of liberty, justice, and equality. For the Jewish community, one of the most powerful expressions of these principles came in 1790, when President George Washington wrote his historic letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, affirming what was then—and remains now—a revolutionary idea: that in America, religious liberty is not a favor granted to minorities, but a natural right guaranteed to all. He wrote: “It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights.” And most famously: “The Government of the United States… gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” For generations, American Jews [...]
Daily Kavanah – Monday, June 30 2025
A Patriot Grows Up In MorristownI grew up in Morristown, New Jersey, which is most famous as the military capital of the American Revolution. The photo of the colonial era white building was George Washington’s military Headquarters which I passed almost daily. Not far from my home we’d hike, sled, and party near Jockey Hollow which had reconstructed barracks used by the American Colonial Army.I attended Morristown High School, pictured in all its boring mid-century glory, above. Our school’s mascot was the “Colonials,” and we’d often wear the Revolutionary three-cornered hats to football games. We were drawn to Morristown because my mother’s family, the Mintzes, had long established ties to the region. My uncles were a doctor, a judge, and a realtor in town. The photo of the building with the green dome is the Morristown Jewish Center where [...]