Dear Beloved Shomrei Community,
When we began Shabbat morning services, there were reports of 40 Israelis killed by Hamas; by the Torah service, the number had risen to 100. Today, there are estimates of over 800 Israelis dead, thousands more wounded, and at least 100 hostages – both soldiers and civilians, including children. Fifty years after the Yom Kippur War, more Jews were slaughtered in a single day than on any other single day since the Holocaust. (more…)
Rabbi Julie’s sermon on Yom Kippur, 2023/5784
The film opens with four palm trees swaying in the wind and a fiddler playing dramatically in the background. In Palm Desert, California, Roberta Mahler, age 87, is driving her golf cart, her bleached blond hair blowing in the wind, with her black poodle in her lap. Her wrinkled cheeks smile when she says, “One of my friends said to me, come on, we’re gonna go to Wendy’s for Shabbat. I said (incredulously), Wendy’s Shabbat? I couldn’t believe this.”
Rabbi Julie’s sermon on Kol Nidre, 2023/5784
This past summer, my family visited Makhtesh Ramon, the massive crater in the Negev desert in Israel, the largest such crater on planet Earth. The view of the Ramon Crater from above, from the lookout in Mitzpei Ramon, is breathtaking and otherworldly. I have been privileged to see it with my own eyes three times in my life.
Rabbi Julie’s introduction to the Torah Reading for Rosh Hashanah Day 2, 2023/5784
This year, I’m reading the familiar and haunting story of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac, through the lens of one of my favorite folk songs, the Cat’s in the Cradle. Written in 1974 by Harry Chapin, the song speaks of a father who was so busy pursuing his career, he didn’t have much time to spend with his son.
