Dear Rabbi Scott
02/10/2022 08:45:00 AM
A couple of weeks ago, I received a “delicious” email. A young Bat Mitzvah student named Violet, from Birmingham, whom I named some 12+ years ago, wrote me with the request to offer my thoughts on the meaning of Shabbat. While watching Abraham sleep through his anesthesia-induced, post-surgery haze, I found a moment to respond to Violet’s question, which went something like this:
Dear Rabbi...Read more...
Learning to Wait
02/03/2022 09:00:00 AM
Experience has taught me that the toughest lessons to learn are the ones we teach with gusto. I would like to believe that all my meditation practice, training, leading and teaching makes me “a pro” at sitting quietly… waiting for news. But it doesn’t. It just makes me a bit more aware of how I missed it again. Sharon Salzberg teaches that “healing is in the return.” How annoying is...Read more...
"Old" "Hat"
01/27/2022 10:20:11 AM
For some of you, this will sound like “old hat.” And for some of you, this will sound like something you believe you know (or you knew) but haven’t paid so much attention to, and perhaps you could use a primer. But for not a small number of you who are reading this blog, I believe—based on experience and at least the sin of omission by our educational institutions—this is something to which you really need to...Read more...
Ambiguous Loss
01/12/2022 05:23:03 PM
A question that has weighed heavily with me of late: Is there one thing we can identify as the greatest cause of human suffering? I mean certainly we can point to the terrible moments which take place in life like awful accidents, foreboding diagnoses, tremendous acts of treachery and faithlessness from the closest people in our lives. For me, illness and the death of loved ones are so far at the top of the list. These, like so many...Read more...
Ayeka? Where are you?
01/06/2022 09:24:53 AM
The primary purpose of Jewish spiritual practice is the betterment of self and one’s interactions with the world.
I’m not quoting anyone specifically, except maybe none less than Rabbi Hillel, who taught, “Whatever is hateful to you, do not do to others. That is the whole Torah. All the rest is commentary, go and learn it.”
And if it were easy…but since it’s...Read more...
823,101 - My Covid Prayer for 2022 (and why vaccination is a Jewish thing to do)
12/30/2021 07:03:45 PM
(Sung to “Seasons of Love” from Rent, Click HERE to hear this sung and the article read aloud.)
Eight hundred twenty-three thousand, one hundred people Eight hundred twenty-three thousand, empty chairs Eight hundred twenty-three thousand, one hundred people Two years and countless heartache, and what of those spared? In memories In sorrow In midnights In words of prayer In sunsets, in road trips, in...Read more...Unsolicited Advice
11/24/2021 10:44:07 PM
If we are indeed God’s chosen people and if God is indeed in control of everything, then why do we have such a sordid history?
But if God is a presence, the force of creation, the common bond of all humanity that exists but without pre-ordination or even an authorial personality-- and we are thus the writers of the Torah--why then would we write and repeat our story the way we did and do?
Instead, why didn’t we just write and rally around a “Yay Jews!” narrative? Why must we continue to toil in Genesis’ vineyards of rivalry, debasement and violence between our ancient kin? Our patriarch abandons his lover and child to death in the desert; our matriarch abuses the trust of her husband and son; the namesakes of the many of our 12 Tribes sell their brother into slavery and lie to their father about his fictionalized demise-- these are the ones in whose names we pray the Avot v’Imahot?
Read more...Muslim -Jewish Christmas
11/17/2021 07:38:44 AM
We do indeed live in a Christian-ish society, at least when it comes to the majority’s predilections, as well as the default presumptions of many. And we Jews all know what it’s like to experience the “jingle” phenomenon--the intrusive means by which “Rudolph” burrows into our brain such that, as we are mindlessly emptying grocery bags or waiting in the carpool line, that jingle of a tune is, unbeknownst to...Read more...
Nes Gadol Hayah Poh - a Great Miracle Happened Here
11/09/2021 02:23:50 PM
This past Shabbat, November 5, 2021, felt like a watershed moment for CSK. From March of 2020 until just recently, CSK, like much of the rest of our society, had more or less been on lockdown. Yes, we had a few positive blips this past summer when we gathered (still with precautions); but of course that enthusiasm abated quite quickly, and most unfortunately, as the Delta variant was on the rise. Even this...Read more...
"Mommy, are there really Jews with light skin?"
11/04/2021 09:24:52 AM
Click HERE to listen
Yesterday morning, the first email I read was from “My Jewish Learning.” In it, I learned that Wednesday evening of this week is Sigd, the Ethiopian Jewish observance that falls 50 days after Yom Kippur. Sigd means “prostration,” and with its celebration of the revelation of the Torah, prayers for a return to Zion, a partial day fast, and a festive gathering, it feels a lot...Read more...
Vax the Jews? No, we're good.
10/27/2021 08:43:06 PM
LISTEN
Vax the Jews? OK. That would be a great idea, if only we weren’t already the most pro-vaccine ethnic group in America to do so (85% of us!) What’s that? That wasn’t their point? They weren’t really talking about that kind of vaccination?
Some morons last week hung a banner in Austin over the MoPac Expressway very near the...Read more...
Looking Back
10/20/2021 10:56:03 AM
Perhaps because we hope that we are standing on the precipice of being able to claim we are “Post-COVID,” but still are wary of doing so; perhaps because the weather is changing and with it the willingness to head back outside is renewed; or perhaps because this December 6 will be CSK’s eighth anniversary - whatever the reason, this feels like a moment for reflection. Eight years is long enough to be known as one of Houston’s...Read more...
Rabbi Tarfon Taught...
10/14/2021 08:45:02 AM
In the second century CE, our Rabbinic Sage, Rabbi Chanina, taught: “Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear it inspires, every [person] would swallow his neighbor alive.”[1]About 1400 years later, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes would similarly warn: “Except they be restrained through fear of some coercive power, every [person] will dread and distrust each...Read more...
CSK Announces the First Rabbi Tarfon Award!
10/14/2021 08:36:01 AM
In the second century CE, our Rabbinic Sage, Rabbi Chanina, taught: “Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear it inspires, every [person] would swallow his neighbor alive.” (Pirve Avot 3:2) About 1400 years later, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes would similarly warn: “… [E]xcept they be restrained through fear of some coercive power, every [person] will dread and distrust...Read more...
REI - Recreating, Exploring, and Inventing (same title, different article than 2 weeks ago!)
10/06/2021 02:57:28 PM
Houston didn’t need another reform synagogue. While certainly there were exigent circumstances which led to its founding, the driving force which birthed CSK into existence was the desire and yearning to utilize Jewish tools for deep and personal expression of oneself and one’s community. Our commitment to not owning or occupying a single building wasn’t first and foremost a financial decision, it was a spiritual one that...Read more...
REI - Re-creating, Exploring, and Inventing
09/22/2021 10:35:43 AM
Houston didn’t need another reform synagogue. While there were certainly exigent circumstances that led to its founding, the driving force that birthed CSK into existence was the desire and yearning for deep and personal expression of oneself and one’s community, utilizing Jewish tools. Our commitment to not owning or occupying a single building wasn’t first and foremost a financial decision, it was a spiritual one that insured...Read more...
Dry Bones
09/02/2021 08:57:58 AM
Weary…Transformation....
I have been teaching two online High Holy Day prep courses during the month of Elul. Rabbi Laura Sheinkopf and I taught a 4-part course called, “Texting in Services,” and I have been offering a course through 18doors (a non-profit dedicated to supporting...Read more...
Headlines from Rabbi Scott
08/25/2021 04:25:28 PM
Extra, Extra, Read all About it!
“CSK bobs and weaves with ever more agility!”
“CSK floats like a ner tamid and stings like a shofar!”
“CSK remains here for you even though, for us, “here” is just theory!”
Yes, yes, I know, I should have been a headline writer. But I’m not sure that’s actually a job (at...Read more...
Ringing in the New Year
08/11/2021 01:22:47 PM
I received a call from a young man last week who I haven’t always known as a young man. What I mean is, I’ve known him since he started at Journey when he was probably in 4th or 5th grade. Over time, he became a Bar Mitzvah and stayed involved afterwards for a little while, but then got involved with high school and after school jobs, and soon he will be starting his freshman year studying engineering. He called me, as he has kept...Read more...
Imagining our Enemies as Babies
08/04/2021 02:33:31 PM
When civil rights protesters in the 1960’s prepared for the inevitable confrontations that would come from marching the streets of southern towns, sitting at lunch counters, using water fountains, etc., they were taught that in the moment of conflict, they should envision their opponents as the babies they once were – innocent and free of the instilled hate borne out of others’ irrational vengeance. Not only were they taught...Read more...