High Holy Days Services for Families with Young Children Contemporary Multi-generational Morning Services Requires a “pass”; please contact Catherine Fischer cfischer@rodephshalom.org to become a member or prospective member and get a pass. Rosh Hashanah: Mon., September 14, 8:30 am Yom Kippur: Wed., September 23, 8:30 am A full service for adults;...
I believe there are some of you here who are in the dating world, hoping to meet someone special. I thought of you when I read a recent column by Emma Court in the NY Times called, “A Millenial’s Guide to Kissing.” It begins: “When a total stranger kissed me...
by Rabbi Jill Maderer So… Who is in the box? Who’s home falls in the Center City travel box when our special guest, the Pope, visits Philadelphia this fall? Me, too. Although still not complete, this week’s transportation and security update began to feed my hunger for a better understanding...
Delivered by Rabbi Jill Maderer this Shabbat... Thank you to Roberta for your beautiful Torah reading. When Roberta began to prepare for her Adult B’nei Mitzvah earlier this year, she felt especially draw to chanting Torah. It was then that her mother reminded her: Roberta’s great-grandfather was a hazzan–a...
By Rabbi Jill Maderer Rebbe Nachman of Brastlav tells this tale: A young man leaves his home to learn a trade. Years later, he returns to his family and shares that he has become a master in the art of menorah making. He asks his parents to invite all of the...
Saturday, June 20: Prayer Service in Harrisburg Rabbi Eli Freedman will lead Shabbat morning prayer and people of faith from across the state will gather to at our State Capitol to demand a moral budget that fully funds public schools. Participants from Rodeph Shalom will be carpooling from the synagogue....
by Rabbi Jill Maderer Last week, at my annual physical, I brought the health forms my doctor is required to complete, so that I may serve on faculty for two weeks this summer at our Reform Movement’s Jewish camp, Harlam. The camp does not provide a different version of the...
It has been so exciting to see the expansion go up here at Rodeph Shalom. And now here we are, almost complete, with the May 17 Dedication happening this month! In last weekend’s Sunday seminar, our expansion chairperson Michael Hauptman taught that the master planning for the space began in...
by Rabbi Jill Maderer This week’s Torah portion, Shmini, describes what can serve as a korban–a sacrifice. And when the wrong thing is used as a korban, tragedy results. Recently, Monica Lewinsky has made the news, because she has begun to speak publicly about the media storm that consumed her identity....
At this week’s seder, Jews recited “Once we were slaves.” Who, today, is still vulnerable to the shackles of injustice? I recently learned about a sex trafficking awareness initiative of the Women of Vision, a part of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. I am grateful to the Federation for shining...
