by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, In this week’s reflections, I wanted to share a little bit about some of the discoveries we have made together in our weekly Torah discussion that takes place every Saturday morning during our Shabbat services here at Society Hill Synagogue. Services begin each week
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Dear Friends, This is a vital time in the life of our synagogue community, and that is because it is synagogue membership season. For some, the notion of synagogue membership is an old hat, a standard element of Jewish communal life. For others, it’s something of
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar I want to take a moment to thank one particular service leader, our president, Lisa Eizen, who is completing her two-year term of service as president and continuing her lifelong role of service to Jewish community. Our presidents take on a tremendous amount of responsibility, which
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Annual Meeting season is upon us. (Have five more exciting words in the English language ever been written?) While perhaps not something we’ve often imagined as part of the sacred cycle of the Jewish year, I have come to experience the Congregation Annual Meeting as a
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Shavuot is upon us, one of three festivals, along with Sukkot and Pesah, during which, in ancient times, Jewish pilgrims from all over the region would travel to Jerusalem, bringing the best of their flock or their harvest as an offering to the Holy One, as
by Rabbi Nathan Kamesar Jewish tradition has long taught of the sacredness of engaging with matters beyond what today we would define as falling within a strictly religious sphere. In the Book of Jeremiah, for example, the prophet, channeling the Divine word, tells us “דִרְשׁוּ אֶת־שְׁלוֹם הָעִיר אֲשֶׁר