Amy Deutsch At ARS, we approach curriculum through a variety of ways. There’s the Hebrew and Judaica curriculum that students examine in the classroom, the tefilah questions that help students dive into prayer and theology at our weekly service, and each year we choose a theme that’s our rallying cry—our vision, our mission, and our …
Rabbi Audrey Marcus Berkman ONE SOUL AT A TIME: MENTAL HEALTH AND TIKKUN OLAM YOM KIPPUR MORNING SERMON A couple of years ago, I started noticing a tremendous upsurge in ads for many different products that had comfort as their common theme. It started with new kinds of mattresses that would stream across my facebook feed …
Rabbi Audrey Marcus Berkman BUILDING ON BROKENNESS: THE HOLINESS OF WHOLENESS Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. If you use social media — sometimes you’re the ones posting carefully curated photos of our delicious meal, our adorable kids or grandkids, our phenomenal vacation – we are “hashtag blessed” – and sometimes we’re the …
Rabbi Daniel Schaefer FIRST DAY OF ROSH HASHANAH INTRODUCTION TO THE HAFTARAH READING (I Samuel 1:1-2:10) Last weekend was the US Open’s Women’s Tennis Final, and it pitted perhaps the greatest tennis player of all time, Serena Williams, against a rising star, Naomi Osaka. Osaka won a stunning upset, but unfortunately, it was not her …
Rabbi Audrey Marcus Berkman SHEMA!: HEARING AND SHARING OUR STORIES TO BUILD A STRONGER COMMUNITY AND A BETTER WORLD There is so much that is beautiful in this space, under this dome — coming to this sanctuary and taking in the grandeur of the architecture, the gravitas of the day, the melodies that …
by Rachel Calmas Dear Friends, As part of our strategic planning process, this past June the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to adopt Tikkun Olam, Caring and Inclusive Community and Jewish and General Education as Temple Ohabei Shalom’s core values. These values were identified through our strategic planning process, which included an online survey (165 …
Rabbi Daniel Schaefer Last night at Selichot, we sang the words of Hashiveinu, reminding us that this is the season for returning. Some of us are returning to school or work, some of us are returning to Greater Boston, and many of us are returning to Temple Ohabei Shalom. The High Holy Days are coming …
by Rabbi Audrey Marcus Berkman It is said in a midrash that the gates of teshuvah (repentance/return) are always open. During this month of Elul, however, we are called to attend to the repair and healing of ourselves and our relationships in a concentrated way. It is easy enough to avoid looking deeply at ourselves …
by Rabbi Audrey Marcus Berkman The sound of the shofar is, it has been said, a kind of spiritual alarm clock. With the dawn of the Hebrew month of Elul, this primal sound, seeming to encompass the entire spectrum of human emotion and experience within it, calls us to mindfulness, to wakefulness, and asks us …
