TBE’s Civic Engagement Team has been hard at work organizing to reach out to our temple family and beyond to assure that we all have the information we need to vote safely and on time in the Nov. 3 election. Our work is part of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC)’s Every Voice, Continue Reading »
As a new Jewish year approaches, the ways in which we will celebrate it will undoubtedly look a little unfamiliar. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many of us will be unable to gather in the ways we do every year, to both welcome the arrival of the new year on Rosh Hashanah, and to Continue Reading »
[Editor’s note: We asked Cantor Wallach to answer some questions for us via email, so that our TBE family can get to know her better. This profile is largely based on her responses and reflections.] I grew up in western Massachusetts in the small town of Great Barrington. My family was mostly secular, celebrating Chanukah Continue Reading »
When it comes to recipes and food features for the High Holy Days, Rosh Hashanah gets all the love – recipes for honey cake, apple strudel and so on. But all of our holidays have special foods that are traditionally associated with them. For example, during Sukkot, which has its roots in agricultural festivals, Jews Continue Reading »
Words to Strengthen and Inspire “I am not a man of words…” “lo ish d’varim anochi…” (Exodus 4:10) That was how Moses first responded to God’s call to lead our people. Yet somehow that man who declared himself unqualified, as slow of speech and inept with words, overcame his fears, led the children of Israel Continue Reading »
Rosh Hashanah came for a visit a few days ago. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss the actual Yom Tov. That will come on time, according to the proper rhythm of the Hebrew calendar, and we will celebrate it with joy, as is fitting. So how did Cantor Wallach, Amy Rubin, and I experience Rosh Hashanah Continue Reading »
This week’s Torah portion contains more laws than any other parashah in the Torah – 72, to be exact. The purpose was not to provide a code that the average Israelite would carry around to consult at any given moment; rather, it was to cultivate a certain sensibility, awareness, and attitude. Nowhere is this more evident than in the prescription Continue Reading »
Rabbi Kalonymous Kalmish Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto left us a wonderful metaphor for the work of repentance and renewal that we began today with Rosh Chodesh Elul. When sculptors begin their craft, he said, what stands before them is a “brute block of stone.” Within that stone lies the possibility of something beautiful that is as Continue Reading »
At this time of summer, the days begin to approach the month of Elul, a month of reflection and looking inward, leading into the High Holy days. We are also in the midst of the seven weeks of comfort following Tisha B’Av, when the Haftarah each week is selected from the book of Isaiah, and Continue Reading »
This week’s Torah portion, Eikev, opens with words of encouragement to walk in God’s ways and to obey God’s commandments. “v’haya eikev tishmaun…” It shall come to pass if you observe God’s rules… that God will … bless you and multiply you…” (Deuteronomy 7:12) The word eikev is most interesting. Its plain meaning is, “as Continue Reading »
