From Rabbi Rachel Kort
Lag BaOmer: Emerging from Isolation to Community
Lag BaOmer is a minor holiday celebrated with major fun. Bonfires and barbeques are the tradition in Israel and at TBO this year too. While I know our communitywill enjoy s’mores together at the beach, we can glean deep wisdom from the holiday too. Lag BaOmer is said to be the yahrzeit of the second […]
Struggling with Our Sacred Language
The name Israel, Yisrael, means ‘the one who wrestles with God.’ In addition to being a people that wrestles with God, for thousands of years, we have wrestled with our sacred language, Hebrew, too. The first account we have of a public Torah reading is in the Book of Nehemiah. After fifty years of exile […]
B’nei Mitzvah: Not Just At Thirteen
Note about language: ‘bar mitzvah’ means “son of the commandment”; ‘bat mitzvah’ means “daughter of the commandment.” B’nei mitzvah is the plural form and is also used as gender inclusive and nonbinary. B-mitzvah can also be used as gender inclusive and nonbinary. This winter, I’m excited to officiate b’nei mitzvah ceremonies for Jonathan Hill […]
Keep Being Curious
As we begin to emerge from these hard COVID times I know I am not alone in reflecting on the positive practices I have taken on this past year. I have been thinking about those things that I would like to integrate into my life as I move forward. I am typically a goal-oriented person […]
Universal Prayers in our Particular Jewish Language
In the space of this month’s ORacle, I would like to share background on a liturgical change I have introduced to the Oseh Shalom prayer for peace at our worship services. In addition, we’ll share this new version of Oseh Shalom in our bulletin each week. Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu, v’al kol […]
Move-A-Thon; It’s a Mitzvah
The author Vicki Weber imagines a famous Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 34:3) about the first century sage, Rabbi Hillel.* His students would not simply learn from him in the classroom, but would also follow him around town, to glean all his wisdom. One day as his students walked with him down the street, he whisked a […]
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