Another good email from Rabbi Milder of Beth Emek in Pleasanton. Are You a Person of Color? We Welcome You! Here’s the punch line that doesn’t work anymore: “Funny, you don’t look Jewish!” There’s no such thing as looking Jewish, and there probably never was, unless you go back to the very origins of the…
Read More »Synagogues
“We are an intermarried congregation”
I wanted to share with you this message that Rabbi Larry Milder sent to his congregation earlier this month. Are You Intermarried? We Welcome You! We are an intermarried congregation. I haven’t counted; I don’t know what the numbers are. It’s just an impression. Honestly, I don’t always know who is a Jew and who…
Read More »Some Light in the Darkness
Rabbi Rebecca Gutterman sent out this hopeful message to her congregation, B’nai Tikvah in Walnut Creek. It made me think of my Jewish – Muslim couples who are going through tough times now with all the brutal, prejudice words flying around. I will us all peace and sanity. It is a hallmark of Jewish experience…
Read More »The Greatest Hits of The High Holy Days
Rabbi Fox just emailed me to be sure I knew that Beth Jacob in Oakland is again doing Greatest Hits of the High Holy Days. Anyone can drop in for a little bit of soul refreshing. If you have to dash out to work afterwards you’ll do it with more energy. The Greatest Hits of…
Read More »Marriage Equality is about Civil Marriages & it’s HERE!
What great timing! Last night I received the last email from my list of San Francisco bay area non-Orthodox rabbis replying to my question, “Do you officiate at same sex weddings for two Jews?” It was my belief that they all did. But I was challenged by a colleague who said that just wasn’t true….
Read More »No one really ‘has’ a Bar Mitzvah; No one ‘gets’ Bat Mitzvahed
It is common in Jewish parlance to say that someone is “having” or “getting” a bar mitzvah. But it doesn’t really work that way. I love Rabbi Milder’s article on this topic. He covers it while talking about celebrating bar/bat mitzvah as adults. Here’s what he has to say. Let’s talk about Bar/Bat Mitzvah. No…
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