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 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 [...]
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 [...]