Author: juval porat
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The month of Elul calls us to (re)turn toward the High Holidays and all they represent: celebration, creation, introspection, repentance, forgiveness,community, prayer and togetherness. We prepare ourselves anew to wake up to that of which we remindourselves (at least) yearly: our interconnectedness, our being part of something greater than ourselves, our humanity, our imperfections, our…
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Towards the end of this week’s torah study session, I casually asked the group if they can recommend an appropriate tune for the weekend of July 4th, to be shared during services tonight. It was then that Rabbi Lisa informed us that “America the Beautiful’’ – considered to be one of the most universally known,…
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Possibly none of us could have foreshadowed the length of this “Great Pause”, which we’ve all involuntarily been asked to lean into. I sincerely hope you are all taking care of yourselves and your loved ones. While the scope of those who suffer under this global pandemic can not be downplayed, the conversations, acts of…
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The indroduction below was given at a Healing Service. Go forth singing songs of joy to the Eternal – these words of invitation open up the weekly ritual of welcoming in the day of rest – the day I often refer to as the day where we switch from “doing” to “being”. Turning towards just…
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This week’s Torah Portion “כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א” / “When you go out” contains over 70 commandments, whose consistency with the values we uphold as Jews and the ways in which our jewish lives are informed fluctuates greatly. For today’s teaching, rather than zooming in on the more challenging verses in our Parasha- I wanted to take a…