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, August 11, 2025
I don’t know about you, but I feel like ‘tis the season for out of office replies and family vacation photos. Kids are coming home from camp, school has yet to begin, and the end of summer Fridays is on the horizon—but not here yet. I spoke on Shabbat Hazon (the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av - sermon linked below) about liminality, and on both the academic and spiritual calendars, we are still there. Spiritually, emotionally, seasonally—we’re in that strange summer drift. We’re post–Tisha B’Av, but not quite in Elul mode. It’s like Jewish liturgical jet lag: we packed up the sackcloth and ashes, but haven’t unpacked the shofar yet. These weeks between Tisha B’Av and Rosh Hashanah are known as the Shivah D’Nechemta, the 7 Weeks of Consolation, and each Shabbat we read a selection from the Book of Isaiah; these words, from the latter half of the Book of [...]
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, August 8, 2025
They are often the first Hebrew words learned by Jewish children, and traditionally the last ones uttered as one approaches the end of life:שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל ה׳ אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ ה׳ ׀ אֶחָֽד׃Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad!Hear O Israel, the ETERNAL is your God, the ETERNAL is one! (Deut. 6:4)These words from this week’s Torah portion, Va’etchanan, begin with a not-so-obvious command. Before we can speak of God’s oneness or affirm our faith, we are asked to listen—with heart, with intention, and with humility.The imperative to listen is a throughline in our tradition.The prophet Elijah famously sought God in wind, earthquake, and fire—but only discovered the Divine in a “still small voice.” (1 Kings 19:12). Sometimes, it’s only in quietness—in giving another our full, undivided attention—that we encounter holiness.The Mishnah teaches that one of the essential ways we acquire Torah–the task our sages privilege above all others–is through sh’miʿat ha’ozen (בִּשְׁמִיעַת הָאֹזֶן), attentive listening (Pirkei Avot 6:6).Listening [...]
Wise Words – Monday, August 4, 2025
I first encountered Tisha b’Av at Jewish summer camp. There, surrounded by my peers and the counselors we adored, we re-enacted the Warsaw ghetto uprising, were roused from our beds and forced to submit to the orders of “soldiers” in a cruel role play of the World War II roundups of Jews (an educational technique that is now, thankfully, prohibited), and we read Night by Elie Wiesel in an attempt to grasp the suffering of our people. (Though Tisha b’Av’s observance was instituted before these events, at camp they were central.) Then at the close of the day, our camps always incorporated a celebration of Israel with waving blue and white flags and the dramatic ignition of a Magen David shaped fire sign crafted by our Israeli counselors. Something that was emblematic at Jewish camps east of the Mississippi, though illegal in the Western states, for obvious reasons. The message was clear: [...]
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, August 1, 2025
We are almost at the end of the Nine Days—a period in the Jewish calendar marked by introspection and sorrow. Our communal mourning culminates in Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av, which begins tomorrow evening.Tisha B’Av is the day on which, according to tradition, both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed. Over the centuries, Tisha B’av has become a container for Jewish grief across generations: the Crusades, the expulsions from Spain and England, pogroms, the outbreak of World War I and various other tragedies.This is a time when we allow ourselves to feel the weight of our grief. Joyous celebrations are discouraged. Music is hushed. These rituals invite us to sit with discomfort—to acknowledge the sadness we might feel.This year especially, the grief of Tisha B’Av does not feel distant. It feels close. Personal. Immediate. Urgent. And so, even as we welcome Shabbat, we do so with [...]
Wise Words – Monday, July 28 2025
If you're like many Reform Jews, your primary reference point for Tisha B’Av might be watching bunkmates knock over building blocks at summer camp—or that epic (and hilariously over-the-top) scene from the Berkshires in "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." It's fair to say that for most of us, Tisha B’Av hasn’t exactly been top of mind in our Jewish calendar. But this year feels different. Tisha B’Av, which we mark this coming Saturday evening, invites us to pause and reflect on the brokenness of the world—the pain our people have carried for generations, and the suffering we continue to witness today. Traditionally, it commemorates the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem. But in our time, Tisha B’Av invites us to confront not only the sorrows of our past, but the enduring weight we carry as a People—our pride in Jewish resilience alongside the persistent ache of grief and the quiet, [...]