Hear Our Voice

Today is Yom HaShoah, the day, chosen by the Jewish people, for remembering the Holocaust. Historically, there’s lots of debate about whether Israel became a state, because of the Holocaust. That in the shadow of the horror reported and documented for millions of people throughout the world, the world had a momentary lapse in its anti-Semitic muscle memory, and that this led to a breakdown in that which normally would have halted...Read more...

Did you know that the first observance of Passover took place before the Exodus from Egypt? Sounds strange, doesn’t it? But in the book of Exodus, Chapter 12, God commands that we observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread with meat from a slaughtered lamb, “roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs.” With apologies to vegetarians, this is the most real Passover there is. Simple and to the point, this is “OG”...Read more...

Sometimes I wonder how it is that we Jews have indeed survived (and thrived) as long as we have. Not despite the slings and arrows of history. And not despite the pitifully small percentage of the world’s population we represent. Not despite the fact that in every society in which we have lived, we often stick out by means of our theologies, rituals, and calendar, not to mention the way in which so much of our affirmations stand...Read more...

Purim is Thursday, March 13, but this past Sunday, Journey (our religious education program) celebrated Purim due to the upcoming Spring Break. With the story of Esther woven through the morning’s activities of team-based Purim projects, as well as a talent show performed by the students, we told, and retold, Esther’s tale, which can be summed up by that famously blunt, Jewishly sardonic, refrain appropriate for many Jewish...Read more...

And God remembered his people, and God heard their cries of suffering.

It had been 400 years since God’s children had been enslaved under the rule of Egypt.

And a shepherd tending to his flock, approached an odd sight - a bush that was aflame. Not the strangest site he’d seen that day, but drawn to it he was, nonetheless. It burned seemingly of its own accord but maintained its structure. This...Read more...

To listen to Rabbi Scott's Blog, click HERE.

One could argue that the second commandment of the Big Ten, “No Idolatry,” is actually the first. Technically, the first of the Big Ten doesn’t come across as a commandment, but as an affirmation or a reminder, perhaps a baseline. The first commandment reads, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” It sounds more like a preamble, than an affirmative...Read more...

In the heady (or hazy) days of CSK’s beginnings, somebody said, “Look, Houston doesn’t need another regular Jewish congregation. What would make us different?”

Unlike clubs, or consumer memberships, or organizations, with special-access premiums, Congregation Shma Koleinu’s essence is indeed summed up with, “Join us, you already belong.”

A bit more than 11 years into our story, CSK continues to rewrite what...Read more...

Of all the statistics that describe CSK’s success, my absolutely most favorite one is that, as of November 2024, CSK has celebrated 73 B’nai Mitzvah in 35 different locations! As we say, “Have Torah, Silver, Ark, Table, Sound System, Prayerbooks…Will Travel.

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, this note is my expression of ebullient joy over the bounty of happiness and learning and growth and the fulfillment of...Read more...

Dear Friend,
You invited me to have a chat, as you didn't much love my Yom Kippur sermon. Our talk was amenable, it was peaceful, and as I have always known you to be, it was authentic. I know that you are an avowed Marxist, as you affirmed yesterday, insisting that
everything ultimately comes down to, “follow the money.” You echoed the belief that were it not for oil, no one would really give a wit about the Middle East. I...Read more...

To listen to Rabbi Scott's blog, click HERE.

The other day in Jerusalem, I saw a bumper sticker that read, “Our story will have a
good ending.” Those words were spoken by Sarit Zussman at the funeral of her son,
Ben, a soldier who fell in Gaza. Once, that sentiment would have seemed self-evident to
Israelis. Now it has the poignancy of a prayer.

This is how Yossi Klein Halevy concluded his most recent...Read more...