What “Open House” Really Means
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar We’ve affixed the term “open house” to tonight’s celebration. I helped generate that label, but I have to ask the question, could there be a more generic term than “Open House?” Realtors use it when showing off a house for sale; private elementary and high schools use it when trying to […]
The Dream-like Shabbat That Was
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar As I’ve said a number of times now in various contexts, this past Shabbat was, for me, a dream. Friday night was the return of TGIShabbat, and the inauguration of TGISHabbat as a weekly institution at SHS, from September through May each year, where each week we gather, through music, through song, through […]
A Bat Mitzvah’s Teaching on the Downstream Effects of Kashrut
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we celebrated the Bat Mitzvah ceremony of Claire Englander. Claire’s Torah portion falls in the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) where Moses is delivering his parting address to the Israelites as they get ready to cross over into the promised land. A central part of this address is a recapitulation of […]
Faithfulness to Our Moments of Clarity • Nina’s Names
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we studied the weekly Torah portion from the Book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) in which Moses is delivering his extended farewell address to the Israelites as they stand at the precipice of the Promised Land, where he will not be joining them. As part of the farewell address, Moses reminds the […]
Lingering with the Divine
By Rabbi Nathan Kamesar This past Shabbat we studied Parashat Pinchas (the Torah portion known as “Pinchas,” named after a religious zealot who practices a cruel form of vigilante justice early in the portion). Parashat Pinchas includes the prescribed musaf offering associated with the different holidays, including Shabbat, that are to make up the rhythm of the Jewish year. Musaf means “additional” […]