This is a year of turning: turning to reflect upon our past and then turning to embrace our future. This concept is embodied in teshuvah, our process of repentance throughout our High Holy Days. According to Rabbi Eliezar, teshuvah was created even before God began to create the world. Our existence depends so much upon our ability to reflect, reconsider, and return to our best selves that it was a necessary building block of creation.
Read MoreGuided by the Jewish values of pikuach nefesh to save a life, chesed, loving kindness, and kehillah, community, at this time we are continuing to plan for in-person services with the additional requirement that everyone who is eligible for a vaccine (those 12 and older) must show proof of full vaccination in order to attend in-person, indoor events, classes, and activities. We will also continue our policy that everyone must wear a mask at all times while in our building.
Read MoreWe have made it through more than a year of the pandemic. Our lives have been reinvented, our Shabbat Services are over the internet. We re-created our entire community onto a new virtual reality. If we have learned anything from this experience we have found new and wonderful strengths. The pandemic and Zoom has…
Read MoreThe Hebrew words “gam zeh ya’avor”, which in English translate to “this too shall pass”, have been evoked frequently for more than a year. We trace the origin of the phrase to the legends of King Solomon, who is traditionally portrayed as “wealthy and wise’….
Read MoreJudaism embraces a tradition of counting, from the number of days during creation to the number of Israelites who left Egypt, from number of commandments to the number of years we wandered in the wilderness. We are still in…
Read MoreA year has gone by and still we have not had a Shabbat Service in the chapel at CMI. Who would have known that this pandemic would have lasted this long?
Read MoreThe arrival of spring and the promise of Pesach inspire us with the potential for renewal and redemption. We have endured, and thankfully survived, what was possibly the most challenging winter of our lives—not caused by weather, but by conditions of historic proportion…
Read MoreMarch marks one year since COVID caused us to physically separate ourselves from one another. One year since we relearned everything about interacting with friends, family, neighbors and strangers. One year since we filled our sacred chapel with song and prayer…
Read MoreMarking one year of COVID fills us with a range of emotions as we grieve what we lost, express gratitude for what we have, and hope for better days ahead. COVID has transformed our lives, our sacred community, and our world. In Judaism we acknowledge that grief does not disappear immediately but that it evolves over time – we count the days, months and years since the loss of a loved one. Processing the pandemic may feel similar to mourning…
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