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!
Wise Words – Monday, January 26, 2026
This week we read from Parshat Beshalach, a parsha filled with movement, courage, and song. After generations of enslavement, the Israelites stand at the edge of the sea, unsure of what lies ahead. When the waters part and they cross to freedom, the people do what words alone cannot hold. They sing. This moment, Shirat HaYam, the Song of the Sea, is so central to our tradition that this Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shira, the Shabbat of Song. It is a Shabbat that holds a special place in the hearts of cantors and all who experience prayer through melody. Song is not decoration here. It is the response. It is how the Israelites processed their awe, fear, relief, and gratitude all at once. On Friday night, we will honor the music of Debbie Friedman, whose melodies helped shape contemporary Jewish prayer and invited so many of us to experience prayer as something [...]
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, January 23, 2026
Recently, I purchased a Google Hub for our kitchen. The speaker is pretty good and it’s nice to be able to simply call out a request and have music fill the room (“Hey Google, play Hanan ben Ari” is a familiar refrain in our house). But the feature I’ve come to love most is the photos. The screen cycles through images from my library, and every so often one appears that pulls me back in time. One surfaced the other day from May of 2020—a picture of me delivering a "baby Torah" to one of our kindergarten students. That year, because of public health regulations, we couldn't gather in person for Consecration. So, we improvised. If the children and their families couldn't come to us, we would go to them. We brought Torah scrolls and certificates bearing each child's Hebrew name to backyards and driveways, masked and standing at a [...]
Wise Words – Monday, January 19, 2026
You’ll be reading this on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A day enshrined into a yearly observance as one of the country’s days of tribute to Americans who changed the course of history. Living in the country transformed by King and those who struggled mightily for civic change, it’s easy for us to lose sight of how difficult it was to secure the progress that we celebrate today. It’s important to remember that King marched nearly one hundred years after the Civil War. Though enslaved Americans were liberated, their long path to civil rights was marred by decades of resistance and repression. W.E.B. Du Bois, in 1903, lamented that “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” A few years earlier, Ida B. Wells, an activist and journalist, wrote, “The white man’s power will not be given up until the Negro will stand up [...]
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, January 16, 2026
A tyrant and a tyrannical regime oppress a people—stealing their dignity, robbing them of their freedom, ruling through fear and brutality. It happens in so many places, in so many ways. For years, for decades, the people endure. Somehow, they survive. Until finally, pushed to the breaking point, they raise their voices. They speak truth to power.As they knew he would, the tyrant erupts. Terrible violence follows. There are crackdowns. Arrests. Bloodshed. The cost of resistance becomes painfully clear.I could, of course, be talking about what's happening right now in Iran. But I could also be describing the events of our Torah portion, Parashat Va'era, which recounts a confrontation with tyranny that began more than three millennia ago.Pharaoh does not respond to moral argument. He does not yield to reason. He responds, as tyrants so often do, with greater cruelty. God, by contrast, responds with moral clarity. Throughout Parashat Va’era, God’s demand [...]
Wise Words – Monday, January 12, 2026
“A cantor is not simply a musician for a congregation, but a spiritual leader who gives voice to the prayer, hopes, and sacred yearnings of a community.” — Dr. Judah M. Cohen, The Making of the Reform Jewish Cantor This coming Friday is a truly special and joyful moment in the life of our Wise community, and I warmly invite each of you to be part of it. At our 6:15pm Shabbat service, we will celebrate the installation of our new cantor, Lauren Blasband-Roth. Many of you already know Lauren well from her time serving our community as our cantorial and education intern, and we are so grateful that after her ordination last May, she officially began here in her new role in July. Installations are rare and sacred milestones — moments when a community and a spiritual leader formally covenant with one another. Your presence matters. Being there in [...]