Hear Our Voice

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...

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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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Yes, the rumors are true.  Rosh Hashanah is coming to visit just a bit “earlier” this year than we’re used to.  Monday of Labor Day weekend is quite a surprise, but not really. 

See, Rosh...Read more...

They call us the people of the book and indeed we are. Books, whether physically bound or digital, are central to what it means to engage as a Jew in the world. That doesn’t mean that every one of us is incredibly well read, or that we might win some literature trivia contest, but what it does mean is that we take words, written words all the more so, seriously.

In Hebrew, the word for prayer book is Siddur, from the root samech,...Read more...

I know that I am not the first to decry this phrase but occasionally it needs to be done: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”  There is so much wrong with this aphorism, both in terms of the far too common way in which mean and nasty words always carry the undeniable potential for the hurling of sticks and stones, not to mention the fact that a significant portion of the “oeuvre” of psychologists,...Read more...