615 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19123 | 215.627.6747
615 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19123 | 215.627.6747
Last Shabbat, our congregant Ellen Kraftsow-Kogan offered a beautiful presentation on “Understanding Profound Moments.” Her focus on love was inspiring and provoked a lot of thought and conversation, both during the service and afterwards; we invite you to continue the discussion with comments here.
Join us to celebrate Shabbat this coming Friday, July 15 at 6:00 pm, as our immediate past president Fred Strober will present, along with Rabbi Maderer.
by Rabbi Bill Kuhn
All too often, we Reform Jews have a difficult time discussing God. Sophisticated, cosmopolitan Jews of the 21st Century cannot relate easily to the ancient biblical understanding of the God concept. Adding to the confusion is the fact that there are many ways to understand God in Judaism. In fact, there is no single, unified Jewish theology, or philosophy of God. As a result, most of us are seekers, and some of us become convinced that there is no God. Continue reading
On Friday night, we celebrated the Equality Forum: Philadelphia’s Global LGBT Summit, and we prepared for the observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. At our Shabbat service, we discussed the Gay Holocaust Memorial that was dedicated in Berlin in 2008. Responses to the design were mixed; there was pride, concern about the symbolism of hiding and confining sexuality, curiosity about whether a memorial should depict people in the time being memorialized. Read about the Memorial and take a look at the images here; what do you think? One comment on Friday night described the memorial as transitional. It was forward-thinking enough that it could not have existed 30 years ago; yet it hides two men kissing, so it hardly seems to be as open as we hope to be. On this Yom HaShoah, may we pray for and work for the day when every one of us can openly express who we are, when the dignity of every human being is affirmed, and when we truly understand that we are all made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.
by Rabbi Jill Maderer (delivered Kol Nidre “Alternative” service)
A story is told of 3 astronauts who went into space. Upon returning, they were asked to reflect on the experience. One said, “I kept thinking, the world looks so small from outer space—the universe is so vast.” The second answered, “I was astonished to think how much had happened on that globe that I could see: all the wars, the loves, the dramas, all on that small orb.” The 3rd astronaut shrugged and said, “You know, all I could think was –why didn’t I bring a camera?!” We take photographs and we take video, but do we pause to take a breath and to appreciate the wonder that surrounds us. Do we focus through our own lens, and open our eyes to the world.Continue reading
A recently heard a story about a group of campers by the side of a river. They saw a body floating by. They all ran into the water, pulled the person out, performed CPR and saved the person. As they were packing up their tents, they noticed another body. Again they jumped into the water, and rescued the man. As they were getting into their cars, they saw another body come floating by. As they were saving this person, one person turned to another and asked: Maybe we better get up-river and see if we can find the source of this problem!
Yes, we’re good at attaining short term goals, but we don’t worry about what comes later. Like the campers, we’re good in a crisis, at saving people as they float by. When we see pictures of hunger on the T.V. and destruction on the front pages of our newspapers and magazines, we react. At these moments we’re good at providing food to fill empty stomachs. However, we don’t often ask what is happening up the river. We aren’t so good when the pictures disappear. When the images are no longer in front of our eyes, we forget those that remain.
I have always loved mazes. When I was in Hawaii a few years ago, I visited the giant pineapple maze of the Dole Plantation. When studying in England, I visited the amazing hedge maze of Hampton Court. And while on recent trip to Montreal, I was thrilled to discover that an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront had been transformed into Le Labyrinthe.
Recently, however, I discovered a whole new type of labyrinth. This summer, while at a wedding in the Texas Hill Country with my fiancée, Laurel, I came across the most wonderful thing. It was a simple path of stones that wound though a circle in an amazing geometric pattern. There were no choices of which direction to go. No difficult riddles to solve or giant scary trolls waiting to capture me. It was just a simple path to walk. As I walked the path to the center of the circle and then back out again, I found my mind wandering. Thinking of my life, how I had come to this place and where I was going. I left the labyrinth feeling refreshed and renewed.
