If Worry Comes to Your Heart: Anxiety, Control and Noah

Shabbat sermon delivered 10/24/14.  

We just bought our Halloween candy for next week’s trick-or-treaters.  (I haven’t quite finished it yet.).  Bags of mini candy bars take me back:  Do you remember the 80’s, and the freak reports of razor blades in bags of candy?  Suddenly, the world was out to kill America’s children.  No longer could we accept homemade cookies or apples, lest they be poisoned–by my neighbors, in suburban New Jersey!  And no longer could we go home and pop a chocolate bar in our mouths.  No, we had to wait for my mother to pull out the cutting board and the cleaver, and chop through, to check for razor blades, so that we could then enjoy our Kit-kat sawdust.

What do we need in order to feel secure?  How much worry is too much worry?  How do we balance our caution and our trust?  Continue reading

To Just Sit: A Spiritual Mindfulness Message on Yom Kippur Afternoon

Were you able to find a seat ok?  You may have noticed that when you enter this early part of the Yom Kippur afternoon service, it’s easy to find a place to sit!  Nestled between the crowds of Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur morning, and the crowds that will soon arrive for Yizkor and Neilah, this afternoon service tends to be our quieter moment of the day.  And yet, here you are.  Perhaps you are drawn here because your family has always made Yom Kippur a full-day experience.  Perhaps you need a place to wait out the fast.  Perhaps you are avoiding slicing tomatoes back at your house, where your family is preparing to host a break-fast. And perhaps you are here, to soak up every last potential opportunity, for introspection on Yom Kippur.

I’d like to consider with you, the role of introspection, in these hours of Yom Kippur, and beyond.  What does it mean, to sit in reflection?  Continue reading

Family Friendly High Holy Day Services at RS

Open your heart, deepen your soul and celebrate…Please join us for a meaningful High Holy Day season!

Contemporary Multi-generational Morning Services– Rosh Hashanah: Thursday, September 25, 8:30 am; Yom Kippur: Saturday, October 4, 8:30 am A full service for adults; yet a family-friendly atmosphere with children of all ages. Gender-inclusive language, Hebrew transliteration, participation in singing and prayer. Informal, comfortable setting for families with young children and activities for children during the sermon. Requires a “pass”; please contact Catherine Fischer cfischer@rodephshalom.org to become a member or prospective member and get a pass.

Tashlich Service at Fairmount Waterworks
Thursday, September 25, 1:30pm, 640 Water Works Drive
Cast away your sins with breadcrumbs!  Open to all.

Afternoon Mini-Service for Families– Rosh Hashanah: Thursday, September 25, 3:00 pm; Yom Kippur: Saturday, October 4, 1:30 pm  A very brief service for families of very young (non-reading) children and their parents and grandparents. Open to the community; no charge, please just bring photo ID for security.

God Made You Holy: Buerger Early Learning Center Graduation poem

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Rabbi Jill Maderer’s Blessing to the Buerger Early Learning Center Graduates, Congregation Rodeph Shalom, 2014

(Inspired by this year’s Dr. Seuss week…)

 

The sun did not shine,

It was too wet to play.

So Bueger ELC

Had graduation day!

 

Many of you‘ve

been with us from start.

Others are new friends.

Could it be time to part?

Continue reading

Counting the Omer: Shabbat Wonder

“Wonder, rather than doubt, is the root of all knowledge,” taught Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.  As we count the Omer on this Shabbat, we dedicate ourselves to opening our eyes to the wonder all around us.

Baruch Ata Adonai, Elohenu Melech ha-olam asher kidishanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu al s’firat ha’omer. Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, who makes us holy with sacred actions and enjoins us to count the omer.

Hayom shishah v’arba-im yom, shehem shishah shavuot v’arba-ah yamim la-omer.

Today is 46 days which is 6 weeks and 6 days of the Omer.

Shabbat shalom–Your RS Clergy

Counting the Omer: Four Myths about Jewish Meditation

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/86436446]

Thank you to our congregant, Elise Luce Kraemer, who helps to lead our regular Friday evening Shabbat-prep meditation, for this below article about helpful hints that make Jewish meditation more accessible for us all!

  1. I tried meditation once, but I couldn’t stop thinking, therefore I am “bad” at meditating.

Typically, meditation involves focusing on breath, a sound, or a prayer with the intention to quiet the mind.  However, everyone who has a working mind experiences thoughts while meditating.  The goal of meditation is not to get rid of you mind, but instead to cultivate mindfulness.  That is, to become aware of your thoughts and emotions, acknowledge them without judgment, and gently return to your practice, e.g. your breath.  Even very experienced meditators often experience “monkey mind” (where your mind is all over the place, jumping from thought to thought) when they meditate – it is simply human nature.Continue reading

Counting the Omer: In Honor of the Memory of Maya Angelou

For teaching us the redemptive healing in telling our stories, for inspiring civil rights work not yet complete, for captivating a country with written and spoken word, thank you, Maya Angelou.  May your memory be a blessing.

On today’s Omer counting, in honor of Maya Angelou’s memory, we pray that, in her words, we may “give birth again to the dream.”Continue reading

Counting the Omer: Liberated, Only to Be Bound

What is freedom in a world of obligation?  Liberation in a religion of responsibility?  As we move further from Pesach and closer to Shavuot, consider David Brooks’ ideas about how we are liberated, only to be bound.

Baruch Ata Adonai, Elohenu Melech ha-olam asher kidishanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu al s’firat ha’omer. Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, who makes us holy with sacred actions and enjoins us to count the omer.

Hayom shloshah v’arba-im yom, shehem shishah shavuot v’yom echad la-omer.

Today is 43 days which is 6 weeks and 1 day of the Omer.

Counting the Omer: No Appeal on Justice

10269140_10203147345139620_1557462738109838941_oStill in the afterglow of yesterday’s ruling to strike down Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage, we just learned that the governor will not appeal!  The rejoicing for this step towards LGBT civil rights now feels even more real.  At this moment in the Omer, we look back from where we came, we look forward to what is yet to achieve, and we stand solidly in the present moment, grateful for what is.

Baruch Ata Adonai, Elohenu Melech ha-olam asher kidishanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu al s’firat ha’omer. Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, who makes us holy with sacred actions and enjoins us to count the omer.

Hayom shivah ushiloshim yom, shehem chamishah shavuot ushnei yamim la-omer.

Today is 37 days which is 5 weeks and 2 days of the Omer.

Counting the Omer: Imagine What Could Be

In her book, Omer: A Counting, Rabbi Karyn Kedar identifies a theme for each week.  This 5th week, beginning today, she names, “Imagine.”  Kedar writes:

“God declared that the land was flowing with milk and honey.  But it was not.  the land had date palms, tall, ready to yield their fruit that could become honey.  And it had goats grazing peacefully on the side of mountains, ready to give milk,  And we bless God who brings forth bread from the earth.  But God does not.  Rather, the fields are abundant with golden grain, waiting for harvest, waiting for human endeavor.  The sustenance from milk, the satisfaction from bread, the sweetness of honey all require us to see what is, imagine what could be, and create what we can.

“This is the secret of our power: To see the invisible!  Continue reading