From March 13th, 2021

One fine afternoon I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR, and the interview totally drew me in. Terri Gross was interviewing a woman who did something out of her ideals and idealism. It was self-sacrificing. It took her time, a lot of it. It exposed her to danger, a lot of it. What was so compelling to me about the interview was that she had to explain that her mother, herself a person of high ideals and idealism, objected to what her daughter did, for reasons of her own principle. In fact, the mother loathed what her daughter did, and told her so.

From March 6th, 2021.

From February 27th, 2021.

We have heard about IQ, the Intelligence Quotient, a measure of our intellectual capability – our book smarts. More recently, we came to understand the critical complementary role of EQ – Emotional Quotient, or people skills. Now there is a new Q on the block – AQ, Adaptability Quotient, our ability to adapt to unanticipated changes in the landscape of our lives. Boy, do we all need a hefty helping of AQ right now.

There is a lively tradition of debate as to how much of our IQ, EQ, and AQ are innate, and how much we can grow along any of these tracks.

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-michelle-robinson/aq/

From February 20th, 2021.

Laughter Really is the Best Medicine

Follow this link to view the sermon and watch the live streaming version on our website https://www.templeemanuel.com/rabbi/rabbi-aliza-berger/laughter-really-is-the-best-medicine/

From February 13th, 2021.

If I had to pick a word that captures the place where many of us find ourselves, that word would be stuck.  S-t-u-c-k. Stuck.

We are stuck in winter. We’ve been through December’s cold, January’s cold, this past week’s storm.  It’s early February, still cold, still icy.   In previous years we might go somewhere warm.  But not this year.

We are stuck in month 11 of the pandemic.  While more people are beginning to get vaccinated, we still have such a long way to go.  We are so far from Israel’s experience with vaccines.  The wisest counsel that our wonderful health advisors give us is: be patient. We are in for a long ride, not clear how long, but long.  We are stuck for longer than any of us wants living a pandemic life. We are stuck without places to go and things to do.  A quiet and isolated Super Bowl, to go with all the other quiet and isolated holidays of this surreal year.

From February 6, 2021.