In recognition of Shabbat Shuvah, and in memory of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin, 9.25.2020 Shabbat Shuvah Congregation Beth Israel, Scottsdale, Arizona Dear Sela Penina, my daughter, my girl: Tonight is Shabbat Shuva, a Shabbat of turning — a time for turning inwards, for reflection on who and how…

Counting our blessings on even our darkest days. Nobody walks in LA. I lived there for ten years, and so much of that time was spent in the car. Especially the years when I had internships in the San Fernando Valley. Each day after classes I’d spend an hour or…

The answer to burnout is in the liturgy of the Jewish High Holy Days Close your eyes. Now picture a lit candle. Notice: at the bottom of the flame there is a cradle of blue. It gently hugs the wick as it burns, giving itself over to the heat and the gas and the air that transforms into light. Emerging from the blue center…

With all of our hearts, all of our souls, and all of our might Some of my earliest memories are at the beach. We used to drive from Buffalo to Cape Cod each summer where my brothers and I would spend hours hunting for hermit crabs at low tide, building drip castles and daring each other to touch the snares of seaweed that washed…

Can we commit to making schools safer for our children? Fair warning: this one is personal. Yesterday, I drove my kids to school for the last time this year. My daughter requested to listen to the song that has been her personal earworm for the last few months: Jason Mraz’s…

Reflections on travel with the Phoenix Black-Jewish Cohort A flame burns in the Hall of Remembrance, a circular reflection room of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It is a quiet flame, a solemn flame. The benches are cool to the touch, and the walls are curved, bowing with the…

Yizkor Reflections from a Passover Seder Last night at the dinner table we chatted about Passover. “It’s been hard,” my son said. “But not terrible.” “I hate matza!” my daughter whined (after begging me for yet another piece of matza slathered with Nutella earlier that afternoon). “Well, it’s supposed to…

And a secular New Year Yesterday morning I went outside around 8am. I noticed something strange. The air was not just crisp… it was cold. I shivered. On the grass was a strange, translucent sheen… something I remember from my youth in cold climates like Buffalo, and Chicago. Friends, the…

And in 2022, may you be blessed in all that you are. My father took to a certain custom when my brothers and I left for college. Before getting on the plane, he’d hug us close, and in his serious voice, he’d remind us, “Remember who you are.” We are…