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!
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, May 1, 2026
This week we read Parshat Emor. It opens with a single, urgent command — and then immediately repeats it: וַיֹּאמֶר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה אֱמֹר אֶל־הַכֹּהֲנִים בְּנֵי אַהֲרֹן וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם… "God said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them..." (Leviticus 21:1) Emor — speak. Ve'amarta — and say. The Torah uses two words where one would be enough. Rashi notices this and teaches: the repetition is not an accident. Speak to the adults so that they will transmit to the children. The doubling is the point. Holy speech is never just speech — it is speech with a purpose. To teach. To share wisdom. To help others grow and benefit from what we know and what we have lived through. We are not merely commanded to open our mouths. We are commanded to pass something on. Which brings me to Rachel Goldberg-Polin. In a recent interview with Katie Couric, Rachel shared three words that Rabbi Tal [...]
Wise Words – Monday, April 27, 2026
This past weekend, our community gathered for the Kolot HaDorot concert, marking 50 years of women in the cantorate. It was an evening of music and celebration, but also something deeper, a moment of gratitude and perspective. We heard voices that have shaped Jewish prayer over the past half a century, and we were reminded that what we often experience today as natural was once unimaginable. It feels especially meaningful that this celebration came as we read Parshat Behar-Bekhukotai, with its vision of the Jubilee year, the fiftieth year. The Torah teaches, “וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּם אֵת שְׁנַת הַחֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה, וּקְרָאתֶם דְּרוֹר בָּאָרֶץ” — “You shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom throughout the land” (Leviticus 25:10). Jubilee is a time of release, return, and renewal. Land returns, relationships are reset, and the community is invited to begin again. This idea of a fiftieth year as a moment of restoration gives an added resonance [...]
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, April 24, 2026
I write to you this Shabbat still carrying the weight and wonder of a journey I did not entirely plan, which, as it turns out, may be precisely the point. As many of you know, I traveled to Poland this week as part of the March of the Living, to bear witness on Yom HaShoah. Walking through the gates of Auschwitz, standing at the sites of mass murder, I tried, as one always must, to hold onto hope and meaning in the face of bewildering cruelty. The March traditionally carries its participants from the darkness of destruction in Europe to the light of renewal in our ancient homeland. We were meant to fly chartered flights from Warsaw to Ben Gurion Airport, to celebrate seventy-eight years since the Jewish state was reborn. But because of the ongoing conflict with Iran, those flights were canceled. The second half of our journey [...]
Wise Words – Monday, April 20, 2026
Israel’s Memorial Day – Why it is Uniquely Meaningful With tomorrow’s setting sun in Israel, the nation begins its solemn observance of Yom HaZikaron— Memorial Day. This day honors those who gave their lives in the War of Independence and in all of Israel’s wars, as well as victims of terrorism. For 24 hours, the country pauses. Stories of fallen soldiers and their heroism fill television and radio. Theaters, restaurants, and entertainment venues close. At 8:00pm, and again at 11:00am the following morning, a siren sounds across the country. Life comes to a standstill as people rise in silence and reflection. Memorial candles are lit—in homes, schools, synagogues, and army bases. It is a day observed by the entire nation. While many countries honor their fallen, Israel’s remembrance is uniquely expansive. In 1998, the Israeli government changed the name of the holiday to Yom Ha’Zikaron LeHalalei Ma’arkhot Yisrael ul’Nifge’ei Pe’ulot HaEivah – [...]
Shabbat Shalom – Friday, April 17, 2026
Rabbi Yoshi is currently in Poland leading the 40 person Stephen Wise Temple delegation on the March of the Living. This Shabbat he shares some reflections from their visit to Auschwitz. On the morning of Yom HaShoah, this past Wednesday, we visited the Kraków Ghetto. Then we walked to the factories just across the river, where Jews were marched each day as slave laborers, including the factory of Oskar Schindler. Jewish Ghetto Memorial From there, we boarded our buses and drove to Auschwitz. We walked beneath the infamous sign: Arbeit macht frei. Forty of us, representing Stephen Wise Temple. Then we marched on, 1.5 kilometers, to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. As we passed through the main gate, each of us gently placed a small sign bearing the name of someone we were remembering on the train tracks. On my sign was the name Mnashe Davidovits, my cousin. He was [...]