WEEK 3: Being Anti-Racist: Learning from the Sephira Hod – Humility/Gloryby Debra Seltzer For those of you who read my post in week one, about Israel-Palestine, I left some threads that connect to this week of introspection. I wrote that “the United States is my own country, with its own challenges which I am committed Read More
Category: Hagim/Holidays
Preparing for the 5784 High Holy Days of Awe: Week 2
WEEK TWO: Yesod (Foundation) and the Environment by Doug Calem For humans, the earth is the yesod — the foundation — that supports life. One might say that recorded history is also a record of our relationship with and attitude towards the earth. Most of the historical record reveals a belief that we are separate Read More
Preparing for the 5784 High Holy Days of Awe: Week 1
R’ Alan Lew suggested that we need to prepare ourselves if we expect to embrace the full potential of the High Holy Days of Awe. Thanks to KSS Social Action Team Leader Debra Seltzer for spearheading our activities this season. This is your formal invitation to join Sukkat Shalom for another seven week cycle of self-reflective provocations in Read More
Meet Aviva Marchione, Our 5784 High Holiday Spiritual Leader
For the third year, Kehilat Sukkat Shalom is proud to welcome a Rabbinic Intern from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) to join us as a Spiritual Leader for the High Holy Days. Our Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur prayer services and social gatherings are enhanced by the presence of guest leaders who bring a new Read More
Prepared for Passover?
When I was a kid, Passover was a really big deal. My earliest memories are from my maternal grandparents’ house in Miami. They set up a long table around which four generations of family members gathered with my Great Grandpa Victor at the helm. Those seders lasted a very long time. He led the service Read More
In the Darkest Days, You are With Me
It’s hard not to feel despair when the weather drops 30-40 degrees overnight and we are confronted by a continuous stream of depressing news at home and abroad. Pick your special interest: public health, climate, gun control, antisemitism, Israel-Palestine… To say there’s a lot to be sad and anxious about seems beyond cliché at this Read More
Looking Back on the 5783 High Holiday Days of Awe
We did it! Our small but mighty kehilah made it through another round of High Holy Days of Awe. Thank you to everyone who lent a hand in this year’s celebrations. From those who organized and participated in leading services to those who organized meals, those who rolled the Torah into place and those who Read More
Meet Our Guest Spiritual Leader for the 5783/2022 High Holy Days
The KSS Board of Directors is proud to announce our Guest Spiritual Leader for the 5783/2022 High Holy Days. Elya Zissel Piazza (they/them) is a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) while also completing their dissertation in Jewish studies from UC Berkeley. Elya is passionate about community building through teaching and learning, song, ritual, Read More
The Season of Endings and Beginnings
Born from a seed, the tree bears seed. The land spends itself to create what will thrive next spring. Fruit swells to bursting. Humans, animals, and birds harvest the grains, nuts, and berries of the land. Plants begin to fade, their life concentrated on a single point: the new kernel, pulsing with stored-up life. We Read More
Passover Greetings and Love for Nisan
Before I launch in, how about we sit together for three breaths. Yaaah-waaaahhhhh.Yaaha-wwwaaaahh.Yahhh-wvaaaaahhh. There’s a lot going on. In the world. In our state. In our community. In our individual lives. In Seasons of Our Joy, (not yet Rabbi) Arthur Waskow names three themes that are interwoven throughout the month of Nisan and the Passover season: “the Read More