RJ Blog

“Camp Newman helps us feel closer to God”. This is how I opened my dialogue with our 2013 leadership staff at our annual Spring retreat. You could have imagined the response. Even some of our Rabbinic students felt uneasy about this language and its timing (opening conversation). “God” talk is scary for many of us.

by Rabbi Andrew R. Sklarz, MSW It was hours before I would step on the bimah and conduct the Erev Rosh HaShanah service. As the nation was reeling from the cataclysmic events of 9/11, I lay upon the examination table of the cancer ward. Was it just weeks earlier that life was normal? Young, carefree, and naively certain of my invincibility, I had scheduled my annual physical. So smug was I upon entering my physician’s office, with no doubt that I would again be labeled “medically boring” and my doctor and I would wax philosophical about our lives, as usual. [...]

In this recently posted video from Temple Israel of West Bloomfield, MI, teenager Anna Brooks performs a breathtaking new Shema she wrote herself (with a little help from Deuteronomy, of course). The video was created by members of the Reform congregation’s filmmaking class; some of Anna’s classmates appear in the video along with her. The lyrics go: I won’t tell you, that He loves me, I won’t tell you that He saved my life But I can say as loud and clear, as I can sing from my lips to your ears, that there’s One of our God, in every [...]

by Cantor Susan Caro A tale is told of a well-known 17th-century Chasidic rabbi named Zusya, who, when he died, went to stand before the judgment seat of God. As he waited for God to appear, he grew nervous thinking about his life and how little he had done. He began to imagine that God was going to ask him, “Why weren’t you more like Moses, a great leader?” Or, “Why were you not wiser, like King Solomon, or braver, like King David?” But when he faced the accounting before God of his life, God simply asked him, “Why were [...]

My husband Michael and I were big fans of the television show The West Wing. One could say that we watched it religiously. In the summer of 2001, one of the prominent storylines coursing through the weekly series was about President Jed Bartlet’s struggle with multiple sclerosis. It was while watching the show one night that summer that I turned to Michael and said, “Maybe I have multiple sclerosis.” For a number of months, I had not been feeling “like myself.” I was often bone-wearingly tired. When I looked down, stretching my neck, it felt like electric shocks were coursing [...]

by Stacey Zisook Robinson there is not separation there is God whose spirit hovers like breath like life twined and waiting there is not beginning in this Beginning and no end to this earth that touches this heaven that laps at this sea that slips into this darkness that has no end that is ein sof

by Rabbi Andy Bachman Two salient ideas ground this week’s Torah portion, ואתחנן/Va-Ethannan. One, that through the human faculty of hearing (it is here, in this parshah, where the שמע/Shma is first revealed) we can learn of God’s oneness and unity of all things by listening, discerning, patiently absorbing without speaking. And two, that the Land of Israel is central to the narrative of the Jewish people – both as an object of our aspirations that is meant to be achieved as well as an unattainable place of our yearnings that forever eludes us. Moses opens the portion by pleading [...]

by Stacey Zisook Robinson We call to one another Into the quiet Into the burgeoning clamor of the day We call To one another To come together Prayerfully.

by Stacey Zisook Robinson And so we stand On the edge of this week Pebbles strewn at our feet The distance between us an endless heartbeat The difference like night Like day Like light and darkness Like God Who separates the days And brings us Ever and always To this holy edge

by Rabbi Melissa Zalkin Stollman Last week, I had the opportunity to spend a morning with the URJ Kutz Camp’s Torah Corps major, which focuses on Jewish studies. I visited a major each day during my week on faculty, but this one was quite unique. The purpose of my being there, in addition to doing some funny ’80s-style prayer aerobics for the Amidah, was to participate in a “prayer interview” conducted by the campers. They all had notebooks at the ready, prepared to copy down any insightful remarks I might offer regarding prayer, worship, or God. Some of the questions [...]

by Rabbi Eric Siroka Reform Jewish summer camping has something for everyone. From Judaica and sports to aquatics and hiking to nature and the arts, the programs offered at the URJ camps provide the opportunity for every one of our children to be enriched and flourish in a safe, nurturing, inclusive environment in which they can expand and express their Jewish identity. I am privileged once again to serve on faculty for Tiferet at OSRUI. Tiferet, the arts unit, is one of the unique programs offered by camp (along with Chalutzim – the Hebrew immersion session and Tour L’Agam – [...]

Does God exist? What does God do or not do? Last Yom Kippur, Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro sent a survey to his congregants at Sinai Temple in Springfield, Mass., to find out what they believe – and the results surprised him. In this summer’s issue of Reform Judaism magazine, Rabbi Shapiro summarizes his findings, and we ask Reform Jews across North America to participate in a similar survey. More than 1,800 people have already responded, and counting! Rabbi Shapiro writes, in part: I am particularly struck by the finding that the largest percentage of congregants—74.6%—identified God as “hope,” followed by [...]

by Rabbi Evan Moffic Are you special? A Massachusetts English teacher recently made headlines when he answered this question with a resounding “No!” Speaking to graduates at an elite high school, David McCullough countered the words of Mr. Rogers and, for the younger generation, the friendly green dinosaur Barney. He said to the graduates, “You are not special. You are not exceptional … You are one person in a planet of 6.8 billion people.” Why would McCullough say these words? Because he believes them and feels they are important to say. And why say them at a graduation address? Perhaps [...]

by Stacey Zisook Robinson This has been a long week. Lately, they all seem long. The days push and pull at me, demanding my attention, my devotion, my energy. At the end of the day, when darkness gathers in small corners and the noise of the day skitters at the edge of consciousness, I lay, exhausted but wired, willing my mind to calm, to rest, to slow down (please, God! let it slow down) so I can sleep. But I don’t. I court sleep like a coy lover. It is elusive, teasing me with a promise of rest, only to [...]