Posted on September 12, 2023
Dear Friends, As we approach the High Holidays I am reminded of a powerful statement in one of our essential prayers. At the conclusion of the U’netaneh Tokef prayer, in which the liturgist asks the questions, “Who shall live and Who shall die? Who by fire and Who by water…?” we join the cantor in singing, “but teshuvah (repentance), tefilah (prayer) Continue Reading »
Posted on September 1, 2023
The wind rushes through the trees at our new home, creating a swishing chorus of dancing branches and leaves. We are so grateful to be putting down roots in our new home in the woods of Eliot. We wonder how each season will present itself; how the cycles of time will play out in the Continue Reading »
Parashat Naso
Posted on June 4, 2023
Dear friends, As you may already know, my husband, Steve, and I are currently in the process of moving into a new home. With great joy and a lot of lifting, we are disassembling and reassembling our material lives. As always, I find there are amazing connections between the weekly Torah portion and current activities Continue Reading »
Parashat Emor
Posted on May 7, 2023
Dear friends, Four weeks ago, we celebrated the holiday of Pesach, our Festival of Freedom. Around our tables we enacted the historic journey of the Israelites out of slavery. Perhaps we liberated ourselves a little bit more from the ways we may enslave ourselves through unconscious habitual devotion to repetitive patterns in our lives. To Continue Reading »
Posted on April 28, 2023
Dear friends, As mentioned in today’s “This Week” bulletin, a suspect has been charged in connection with the February vandalism at Temple Israel and other Portsmouth locations. We are grateful for law enforcement, whose members have been working hard to serve justice, find the perpetrator, and hold them to account; for the courage and strength of Continue Reading »
Posted on April 25, 2023
Dear friends, As we move from Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s memorial day, into Yom Ha-atzmaut, Israel’s celebration of independence, many of us are filled with mixed emotions. We all yearn for peace and security for the land and our people, yet many of us, including tens of thousands of Israelis, have serious anxieties about the current government and Continue Reading »
Posted on April 4, 2023
Matzah – Opening to Compassion Dear friends, This is the season of redemption. In springtime, the whole earth attests to the natural power of rebirth with the return of birdsong, the blossoming of new green life, a redemption from darkness into light, and from oppression to freedom. The rabbis taught that in the month of Continue Reading »
Posted on December 16, 2022
The root of the word Chanukah, Chet-Nun-Khaf (ח–נ–כ), means dedication, but the root of this root is Chen, Grace (חן). The light we celebrate at Chanukah expresses grace in two ways. First, there is the miracle of the light that lasted for eight days, that is, the gift of grace by God that allowed the Continue Reading »
