Rabbi Annette Koch‘s drash (teaching) on this week’s Torah portion, Shoftim, brings ancient truths to modern conditions. Rabbi Koch is the spiritual leader of Temple Israel in Alameda. When my father spoke about the horrors of being a prisoner in a Russian forced labor camp on the Finnish-Russian border during World War II, he…
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Live streaming High Holy Day Services are available all over. Here’s the list of what I have so far. If your synagogue will offer virtual High Holy Day services and you don’t see it listed here, please email me – dawn@buildingjewishbridges.org. Send me a link to your synagogue’s information. Thank you! B’nai Emunah, San…
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(Image: Beth Am in springtime) Shortly after Governor Newsom shut down California in March I received a beautiful note from one of “my” folks. I asked for her permission to share it. She gave me permission but in the pandemic, racial upheaval and fires I forgot. I came across it today. I wish that it…
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Personally, I’m still trying to sort out this SIP life. I keep forgetting that all sorts of services have ceased. I can’t give my brother the birthday present of a gift certificate to his favorite masseur. I started to! But naturally they are closed. It’s been five months; you’d think I’d have adjusted. This pandemic…
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What do most Americans know about Jewish holidays? Typically – Hanukkah, Passover and… not much else. The three big holidays are the pilgrimage festivals. Cantor Linda Hirschhorn of Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro wrote a lovely, brief description of them. Have a look. In Parshat Re’eh we are given a description of the…
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(Rabbi Stein of B’nai Shalom in Walnut Creek. An online sermon) I feel like attaching an audio link to the Simon & Garfunkel song, “It’s All Happening at the Zoo” and then writing new lyrics that say, “It’s all happening on the internet”. Every doggone thing is online! Today I read that during the pandemic…
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