Dear Friends: Thank you to everyone who led services and read Torah and haftarah while I was on vacation. Thanks in particular to Rabbi Emeritus Mark Raphael who provided backup coverage in case of emergencies, and to Rabbi Jonah Layman of Shaare Tefila in Olney for “backup backup” coverage for the three days when neither Rabbi Raphael nor I were in town. Rosh Chodesh Elul, the beginning of the month of Elul, is this coming Thursday and Friday. On the first of Elul (Thursday night and Friday)...

Dear Friends: Yesterday, as you may know, the Supreme Court issued a 6 -3 ruling which allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to remove Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from approximately 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians. The Court’s majority held that under the law, the Homeland Security Secretary’s decision to end TPS for a particular country cannot be reviewed by the courts. I sometimes have to remind myself that the role of the courts is to decide what is legal, not what is...

Dear Friends: We extend our condolences to Charlotte Strauss, Danielle Strauss, and their entire family on the passing earlier this week of Terry Strauss z”l. If you have been part of the extended Kehilat Shalom family at any time in the last two decades or more, you knew Terry. He had filled almost every office on the Kehilat Shalom board, was president of the Men’s Club, and he was ubiquitous around the shul. He will be sorely missed by us all. May his memory be a blessing and may his...