Virtual Shabbat Box Archives: January 2023
January 27-28
Poet Hila Ritzabi, who leads Ritualwell.org, offers a little Tu B’Shvat 101 and then steps into the great outdoors to recite a powerful poem about climate change and the redemptive power of nature. It is sure to enhance your observance of the New Year of Trees.
In this podcast, Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb and Rabbi Deborah Waxman explore the ways in which Jewish tradition and ecological consciousness provide compelling models for resilience and sustainability.
Created for the purpose of a Tu B’Shvat seder, this ritual explores the kabbalistic symbolism of the number four. Specifically, the four elements: Earth, water, fire and air.
The Reconstructionist movement calls for collective teshuvah and repentance. Read about the democratic, deliberative process behind this moral call for reflection and action.
Rabbi Alex Weissman’s inspiring journey brought him to the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College as a student. Now he’s back to teach future rabbis.
January 20-21
This stirring poem by Trisa Arlin confronts nature’s destructive power, yet finds hope in the power of individuals and communities to survive, assist and comfort.
Sharing a personal story, Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann illustrates how mental illness must be treated as a normal part of life freed from secrecy and silence, the places where shame lives and festers.
While there are no specific ancient traditional rituals for welcoming a baby girl into the community, many families have found ways to fill that void. This short, animated video explores some of the new traditions.
Marcella White Cambell discusses her multiracial Jewish family’s experiences as a window into the Jewish community’s troubled record in welcoming Jews of Color.
Centuries of living in slavery and oppression crushed the Israelite spirit. Rabbi Lewis Eron writes about how “the years of bondage undermined the Israelites’ self-confidence. Rebuilding his people’s spirit was the challenge that Moses would face for the rest of his life.”
January 13-14
Rabbi Annie Lewis’s poem takes off on a line from Lucille Clifton: “I am running into a new year ….”
A new year begins, and we all become a little older. Judith Kerman looks to the stars seeking a “misty field above my head in the dark” and yearns for that place “where everything becomes clear.”
Reconstructionist leader Marc Overbeck watched the most recent Israeli election returns with mounting concern regarding the future of a democratic Israel. In this podcast, he raises up two idealistic thinkers — Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan and Theodor Herzl — and offers an impassioned defense of the idea of democratic government as a force for good.
In this d’var Torah, Rabbi Lewis Eron teaches that “the understanding that leaders can be caught in their own lies helps us understand the biblical expression for pharaonic stubbornness — “his heart was hardened” — and serves as an object lesson for all those who find themselves in positions of leadership and power.”
Multifaith dialogue has the power not just to build bridges of understanding, but to foster personal spiritual growth and transformation. Rabbi Deborah Waxman speaks with Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer and Professor Sa’’ed Atshan, a Palestinian Quaker Christian, about their experiences in multifaith work.
Virtual Shabbat Box Archives: January 2023
January 6-7
Adva Chattler offers a new ritual and meditations to follow Shabbat candle-lighting, derived from a teaching in Midrash Bereishit Rabbah.
In their meditation on the metaphor and meaning of darkness, Kendra Watkins, whose grandfather Bill is an astronomer, says that “darkness is as old as G!d G!dself.”
This d’var Torah by Rabbi James Greene was written for Martin Luther King Jr. weekend several years ago and refers to specific events occurring at the time it was written. However, its insights remain relevant more than a decade later.
Rabbi Sid Schwarz, author of Jewish Megatrends, discusses the phenomenon of “tribal Jews” and “culture Jews,” and the how the two groups, which largely break down along generational lines, view Jewish life very differently. He also shares lessons learned from his nearly 40 years in the rabbinate.
Sundown, twilight, nightfall. Devon Spier evokes the power and importance of this liminal time, especially around Shabbat.
