Conversations with the Rabbi

Pharaohs abound. How they turn to dust.

It is true that each of us is unique and distinct in the world. A brain, a body, organs, all part of the individual "me" we use to move through the world. And yet, without reliance, interdependence, openness and vulnerability, each of is just a blip on a radar screen until we disappear from view. We're in this together, let's act like it.

All we have truly is Hayom - Today. What are you going to make of it?

Life's tribulations can get us stuck. Humility is the jump starter - the reminder that the more appropriate response may be, "Why not me?"

A striking image - perhaps it should remain like this for a while. As a reminder of the fragility of our freedoms.

Most of us find the news of the day to be challenging, infuriating and stultifying. Sometimes frozen in place, we may wonder if there is any reason to keep trying to repair the world. Let us remember that terrific modern parable about the starfish.

A child comes along and sees a beachhead filled as far as the eye can see with washed up and vulnerable starfish. And there, at the shoreline stands a woman engaging in what appears to be an impossible task - returning the starfish to the sea. The child walks up and asks why she is doing this. He declares, "I mean, you could spend the whole day here and hardly make a dent. There must be hundreds of thousands." The woman looks at the child as she has just returned one more starfish to the water and says, "Well it sure made a difference to that one."

This is a poem drawn from a yearning to respond to the 326,000 Americans thus far lost to COVID. As a Rabbi, I seek to offer folks some reflective tools(?) for coping. Its so much not enough, but nothing ever will be enough to justify the far too early passing of those we love.

Feet Up, Prayerbook (or Tablet) In Hand by Rabbi Scott Hausman-Weiss

If Not Now, When? by Rabbi Scott Hausman-Weiss

Hey CSK, what are your plans for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? Well, have you ever been to the circus?......