73 in 35
11/22/2024 12:43:08 PM
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...
Humbly Speaking
11/07/2024 05:21:57 PM
Our most common turn of phrase that we offer our loved ones when we depart our home for work or errands, “I’ll see you later,” is much closer to a prayer than a statement of fact.
It is, whether we are aware or not, an aspiration for something we hope (and expect) to be true. Our lives are fleeting, and in the best of circumstances, there are no guarantees.
I had a professor in...Read more...
But What If?
10/31/2024 11:46:05 AM
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...
Faith Camping
10/24/2024 11:49:45 AM
Faith is the opposite of certainty. God calls out to Avram and says Lech lecha, Go Forth, and when he and Sarai do so, they must leave everything they have ever known to become the blessing to the world that Jews are.
When Theodore Herzl writes, Im tirtzu ein zo agada, If you will it, it is no...Read more...
Whether or Not I Live There
10/07/2024 01:38:40 PM
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...
Special Guest Speakers at CSK!
09/19/2024 08:56:09 AM
Our ancient Sages asked, “Eizeh hu hacham?” Who is wise? And they answered,
“Halomed mikol adam.” The one who learns from others. In a tumultuous world in which
too often, sound bytes set the course of a day or a conversation or even a relationship,
it is crucial that we are able to sit for a meaningful period of time and hear wise words
that last longer than 30 seconds.
Coming up tomorrow night at our Israel...Read more...
Hey CSK! Take a Chance on Us!
09/12/2024 10:57:04 AM
Hey CSK, what are you waiting for?
This coming October 2nd marks CSK’s 11 th High Holy Days season. Our first year was at the Power Center, the next 9 years were at Emery Weiner.
This year, CSK’s renowned High Holy Days experience will take place in the Kaplan Theater at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center.
I know that perhaps you and others have mostly traded out the “pew” for your couch, perhaps...Read more...
Open to All
09/05/2024 11:53:27 AM
The great irony of CSK is that our success demands that we speak about money more than less. We haven’t always done it, but that doesn’t make it less important. We insist on making Jewish life accessible to all and thus we remain committed that our High Holy Days are OPEN TO ALL. Everyone is invited. As we say, “Join us…You Already Belong.”
And there is a difference between Open...Read more...
No Holds Barred
08/29/2024 08:35:31 AM
Dear Friends, this is a longer one than usual. It’s a text study that I would encourage to read at a leisurely pace, maybe even with others. Enjoy!
I was honored to be invited to deliver the D’var Torah to the Alexander Jewish family services board meeting yesterday. For those who don’t know, JFS is a crucial organization of most medium and large size Jewish communities. From their...Read more...
Watch Yourself Fly
08/22/2024 09:48:47 AM
During a conversation about the High Holy Days with some distant cousins this summer, that turned to the subject of tickets and seating, their very close up, long time reserved seats for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at their historic synagogue, my cousins' very young daughter innocently offered, “We’re temple nepo babies.” First, I needed to confirm what she meant. By “nepo babies,” she was...Read more...
Belonging
08/08/2024 12:15:29 PM
Every year, just before the school year begins, I have a familiar pang in my stomach. The transition from summer to fall always comes with a bit of melancholy for me. Some of it is leaving my parents’ home on Cape Cod to come back to the heat of Houston, but some of it is simply the years of feeling the anxiety of transitions that come at this time of year. Yesterday I spoke to our new faculty and...Read more...
Broken and Whole
07/25/2024 11:41:08 AM
In the final verses of last week’s Torah portion, Balak, the Torah retells the story of Pinchas, a biblical figure who takes up arms and acts as a vigilante on behalf of Moses and God. Some of the Israelite men had been, according to the text, "whoring” with Moabite women, in a cultic worship of the Canaanite god, Baal-peor. God instructs Moses to instruct the tribal chiefs to gather those men and slay them as...Read more...
Better than Cats
07/18/2024 11:54:36 AM
A man walked to the top of a hill to talk to God.
The man asked, "God, what's a million years to you?"
And God said, "A minute."
Then the man asked:
"Well, what's a million dollars to you?"
And God said: "A penny"
Then the man asked:
"God.....can I have a penny?"
And God said:
Read more...
There are Jews at Harvard?
06/21/2024 02:40:41 PM
A few weeks ago, I had the distinct opportunity to join 300 rabbinic and cantorial colleagues for “Recharging Reform Judaism,” at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue (SWFS) in NYC. In an effort to challenge, or inspire, or awaken (take your pick) the largest synagogue organization anywhere in the world outside of Israel, this conference set its sights on re-rooting Reform Judaism in Jewish text, tradition, and a greater sense...Read more...
Musings - Jews Gone Wild
05/24/2024 08:27:44 AM
Dear CSK,
For all intense and purposes, summer is upon us. I know that all schools aren’t quite out yet, but they will be in a matter of days. But I’ve decided to assign myself and you some summer school homework. For many years, I have been writing these blog articles, mostly as a unidirectional offering. Perhaps you read them, perhaps you “save them for later.” Today, I’m inviting you to join me in a...Read more...
Monsters Under the Bed
05/10/2024 12:33:14 PM
My son just graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelors degree in Political Science. We were at The Big House (football stadium) for the giant commencement ceremonies and we witnessed the anti-Israel demonstration performed by 100 or so keffiyeh-clad students. I was annoyed. So, from the ceremonies, I posted the following message on Facebook:
“At...Read more...
Passover Message
04/25/2024 12:22:52 PM
As a kid growing up in Massachusetts, Passover always fell just as the world was coming back to life. The air smelled cleaner, and the sky was bluer and, because my mother had a knack for making things beautiful, the yard was filled with daffodils and crocus that she planted in the fall. And the Seder table was just as lovely - set with beautiful china, silver, and flowers. While it might seem superfluous, Jewish tradition actually...Read more...
No Bowing Zone
04/22/2024 04:36:41 PM
Tonight we celebrate the Exodus from Egypt. For thousands of years, Jews have been celebrating this moment that sets the trajectory for the Jewish people. It’s hard to really tell the chicken from the egg in this case. Have we made the ritual of remembering slavery a bug or a feature of Jewish life? It’s certainly hard to know.
Our history of miraculous survival is only miraculous because so many forces...Read more...
Not So Ironically
04/11/2024 08:45:45 AM
Yesterday, in an episode from the podcast, “Call Me Back,” I heard Israeli author and public intellectual, Yossi Klein Halevy, prophecy these words:
“October 7 was the collapse of the Jewish state. It was a one-day collapse, but we experienced a kind of pre-enactment of the destruction of the state of Israel, and this is a war (the Israel-Hamas war) to reestablish the...Read more...