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 25, 2026
As a veteran of the United States Army, I am genuinely grateful when someone says, “Thank you for your service.” You can always feel the sincerity of these thanks, and sincerity matters. And yet, whenever someone offers such thanks, I’m simultaneously humbled and troubled. I’m humbled because veterans aren’t the only people who serve our country. Teachers serve. Nurses serve. Clergy, social workers, volunteers, children caring for aging parents, parents teaching their children, and neighbors looking after one another all help sustain the fragile fabric of a free society. We all serve and we all sacrifice, in our own ways, to make our communities and our country better. However, I’m also troubled by expressions of thanks, because true gratitude is expressed through action, not words. To truly honor those who serve, especially those who gave their lives for our country, we must create a country worthy of their sacrifice. [...]
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, May 22, 2026
This Shabbat is Shavuot, the holiday that celebrates the giving of Torah at Sinai. And as is the custom on Shavuot, we read the Book of Ruth.I have been thinking about something my Bible teacher at Hebrew Union College, Rabbi Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, taught me about this remarkable book. What makes it so unusual and so beautiful is this: every one of the main characters in it behaves decently. Look across the sweep of biblical narrative and you will find great heroes and terrible villains, soaring moments and devastating ones. But it is rare to find a story where people are just good to one another. Some go further than others. Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi is extraordinary and Boaz’s generosity is exemplary. But no one in the story is cruel. No one schemes or betrays. Everyone, at minimum, behaves with basic human decency.What a vision. And what a gift, [...]
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 [...]