Dear Friends: This week we begin reading Sefer Shemot , the Book of Exodus. The story of the Exodus is the beginning of our people’s foundational story, but it has also inspired people throughout history and in many places to resist the Pharaohs of their era. The first act of resistance in Exodus was that of the midwives, Shifra and Puah, who had the courage to defy Pharaoh’s immoral decree even though it was the law of the land. If they had complied, if they had thrown up th

Dear Friends: I did not teach our Thursday night Adult Education last night or the week before, which were January 1 and December 25, respectively. At some point during the past week I was asked if there would have been a halachic problem with holding our Adult Education class on December 25. I understood this to be a question asked out of curiosity and a sincere desire to learn and not as a challenge in any way. To be sure there is no halachic issue of holding Torah study cl

Dear Friends: Tomorrow morning I will discuss three different contemporary sources that deal with the question of why Chanukah is eight days. Your automatic response to that question will probably be “because the flask that had enough oil for one day lasted eight” but if there was enough oil for one day, the first day was not really miraculous. Only the next seven days were the product of a miracle and therefore the holiday should really only be seven days. Rabbi Laura Geller

Dear Friends: Chanukah is supposed to be a joyous festival but we began Chanukah with so much sadness. In Bondi, Australia (suburban Sydney) two assailants opened fire on a public Chanukah celebration. At least 15 people were killed and dozens more injured. Among those murdered were two Chabad rabbis, a ten year old girl, a Holocaust survivor, and a 27 year old French Jewish IT administrator living and working temporarily in the Sydney area. The Sydney massacre was the worst

Dear Friends: Is it strange that every year as it gets colder I look forward to the release of Starbucks’ “Holiday Blend”, which is one of my favorite coffees? The first Starbucks on the East Coast opened in March 1993 on Wisconsin Ave. NW in Washington, DC, near the National Cathedral. At the time I was the Hillel Director at American University and lived just off Connecticut Ave. in Cleveland Park. If I drove to work, this Starbucks  was on my route, and it had a parking lo

Dear Friends: If you said Ma’ariv (the evening prayer) last night, you should have noticed that starting last night and through Pesach we make a slight change in the ninth blessing of the Amidah, Birkat Ha-Shanim (the blessing of the years). Starting the evening of December 4, or December 5 in a Hebrew year divisible by 4, instead of asking God to grant  b’racha  (blessing), we ask God to send tal u’matar livracha (dew and rain for blessing). As some of our congregants notice

Dear Friends: Tomorrow marks the fourth yahrzeit of my father Elliott Arian z”l. I’ve written before about the last coherent conversation I had with him. For the last few weeks of his life he wasn’t able to talk so this conversation was some time in September, 2021. He was very upset because he had been watching coverage of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the people who had worked with the Americans desperately trying to get onto American planes leaving Kabul, even try

Dear Friends: Some notes on a few different subjects: This Shabbat we will say farewell to Stu and Janet Rutchik.  Stu has served in many different roles including two terms as synagogue president and has been a frequent Haftarah chanter. Janet has also served in many different positions on the board and in Sisterhood. The Rutchiks have been members of Kehilat Shalom for about 35 years and they will be sorely missed but we understand their desire to live closer to their grand

Dear Friends: On Tuesday, as you certainly know, Zohran Mamdani was elected as Mayor of New York City, with 50.4 percent of the vote. Prior to the election a lot of pressure had been placed on Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to drop out in favor of ex-governor and independent candidate Andrew Cuomo due to fears that they would split the vote and let Mamdani win with a plurality, but as it turned out he won a bare majority. I spent the first eight years of my life in New York

: Dear Friends: In the last couple of weeks, the American Jewish community has lost two prominent leaders. They were very different from each other and yet they had at least one major thing in common. On Shemini Atzeret evening, Rabbi Moshe Hauer died suddenly at his home in Baltimore at age 60. Rabbi Hauer was the Executive Vice-President of the Orthodox Union (OU), the main umbrella organization of Modern Orthodox Judaism. He had been a pulpit rabbi in Baltimore for 26 year

Dear Friends: I have to begin my note to you this morning with some sad news. As you know, our guest High Holiday cantor from Israel, Michael Garmise, had to return home right after Rosh Hashanah because his wife Reva had taken seriously ill and was hospitalized. Sadly, she passed away on Wednesday and her funeral took place in Netanya yesterday morning. Although Mike was only with us for the two days of Rosh Hashanah, I heard from many of you how much you enjoyed meeting him

Dear Friends: As of this writing, a ceasefire has taken effect in Gaza and preparations are being made by Israel for the return of the...

Dear Friends: The Israelis have a wonderful concept known as אחרי החגים, “after the holidays.” By which they mean “after Shemini...

Dear Friends: Our country is appropriately troubled by the murder on Wednesday of Charlie Kirk, a right-wing political activist, while...

Last night we had a Town Meeting to discuss various options as we move forward once the sale of our building on Apple Ridge Rd. closes. I...

Dear Friends: I finally found a concise definition of the particular approach to Judaism which makes the most sense to me:   “a...

Dear Friends:   You may know that I was appointed a member of the Social Justice Commission of Conservative/Masorti Judaism this past...

Dear Friends: Before I share with you some other thoughts, I wanted to ask you to put something on your calendar. On Sunday morning...

Dear Friends: This week’s Parasha, VaEtchanan, contains both the Shema and a reprise of the Ten Commandments. At some point you have...

Dear Friends: Tisha B’Av is Saturday night and Sunday. This is the only full 25 hour fast day in the Jewish calendar other than Yom...