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, May 18, 2026
There are many theories as to why we read Megillah Ruth, the Book of Ruth, for the festival of Shavuot. This year, as I sit a week after Mother’s Day and just weeks before my son’s 6th grade graduation from Wise School, I am thinking about the lessons that Ruth and her story have to offer us about not just community, but about “the village,” the web of people who make family life possible. The Book of Ruth begins with loss and displacement, but it unfolds through acts of caregiving. Ruth accompanies Naomi. Boaz notices Ruth. The neighboring women notice Naomi. Redemption emerges not through miracles, but through people refusing to let one another carry suffering alone. And after all the dramatic moments in the story — death and famine, loyalty and risk, threshing floors and city gates, even birth and redemption — the book ends with an intimate and [...]
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, May 15, 2026
This Shabbat we begin a new book of the Torah. B’midbar (Numbers) opens with a census. God instructs Moses: שְׂאוּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ כָּל־עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵלs’u et rosh kol adat b’nei Yisrael— raise up the head of each member of the Israelite community. Every individual is named. Every person, tribe by tribe. No one is invisible. Everyone counts.That value was very much alive in Sacramento this week.I had the privilege of joining more than 750 Jewish leaders from across California for Jewish California’s Capitol Summit. It was an extraordinary gathering, and being there alongside approximately fifteen members of our Stephen Wise Temple community made it all the more meaningful.On Monday and Tuesday, we heard directly from members of the Jewish caucus in the California legislature, including Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, Assemblymember Dawn Addis, Senator Ben Allen, Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, Senator Henry Stern, and Assemblymember Christopher Ward. We also heard from powerful allies who, while [...]
Wise Words – Monday, May 11, 2026
I’m writing this during a trip with Becky through Portugal. As a Jew, experiencing this beautiful country with its rich history and culture, and bursting with gastronomic delight, one is struck by the absence of anything Judaic. Despite having one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe in the 15th century, there is scant evidence of that legacy today. Though the Inquisition began ambivalently in Portugal — the Portuguese king “only” mandated forced conversions of Jews rather than their expulsion in contrast to the Spanish expulsion in 1492. By 1536, as the Inquisition gained steam and trials of crypto-Jews (outwardly Christian, privately Jewish) became common, most Jews fled to regions more amenable to their presence. The Inquisition was finally and officially terminated in 1821! Unlike elsewhere in Europe, and even Morocco, synagogues were destroyed, graveyards were covered over, and Jewish quarters of walled cities eradicated. Only hints of a Jewish [...]
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, May 8, 2026
This past Sunday evening, our community was blessed with a truly extraordinary experience. Rachel Goldberg-Polin joined us, and I think it's fair to say that everyone in that room left transformed. If you were not able to be with us, I want to encourage you wholeheartedly to get a copy of her book, When We See You Again, and read it. It is a profound, important, and deeply moving meditation on grief, faith, and meaning. One insight Rachel shared that has stayed with me comes from a prayer in our tradition — one said every morning. I want to invite you to carry it into Shabbat with you; I know I am. The very first words we are meant to utter upon waking are words of gratitude: "Thank you, God, for returning my soul to me, for giving me another day of life." מוֹדֶה/מוֹדָה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ חַי וְקַיָּם שֶהֶחֱזַרְתָּ בִּי נִשְׁמָתִי [...]
Wise Words – Monday, May 4, 2026
In this week’s double Torah portion, B’har–B’chukotai, we are given a vision not of exactness, but of movement, along with the uncertainty that it brings. “If you walk in My ways…” begins the second parashah, before promising a series of blessings. The medieval sage Rashi teaches that to “walk” in God’s ways is not to arrive at certainty or precision, but to toil: to engage, to wrestle, and to grow through the journey itself. The Torah thus imagines a life shaped over time – step by step, choice by choice – guided by values, sustained by community, and open to discovery along the way. Should we comply, God promises: “I will walk among you.” This is the sacred threshold our high school graduates – our confirmands – now approach. The transition from youth to adulthood is not marked by perfection, but by courageous experimentation and the willingness to keep walking even when [...]