615 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19123 | 215.627.6747
615 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19123 | 215.627.6747
delivered by Rabbi Jill Maderer Yom Kippur morning
So… Who lives in the Pope traffic box? Me, too. Although logistically complicated, I appreciate that this is a momentous occasion, for our Catholic friends and for our city, and I am intrigued about how we in the Jewish community might find meaning in the Pope’s visit.
On this sacred day, we open to atonement, change, repair. Pope Francis serves as an extraordinary model of faith in repair.Continue reading
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 under the artificial lights of an airplane cabin somewhere above international waters, my first thought was of the Orthodox woman sitting to my left…The kiss, coming out of nowhere, had turned me into the heroine of a bad romance novel: heart fluttering…those blue fleece blankets had never been so sexy….Between us sprang the kind of instant intimacy fostered by open personalities in tight quarters. We spoke in spurts of our trips and what we had done during the days spent in Israel…
[Once back on the ground], I hugged him a brisk no-nonsense goodbye. We didn’t exchange numbers…… Would things have been different, if one of us had had the courage, to say something other than goodbye before heading to our trains? I only realized later why it had been such an oddly familiar feeling: My generation treats every liaison as if it is happening on an airplane. Our story wasn’t so different, after all. I wonder what we collectively lose as we try so hard not to care. We pretend that it doesn’t matter, that we have time, that because we are young we are invulnerable.” Continue reading
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 about how my family will function, how emergencies will be addressed, and of course, how we are going to get the Jewish community to synagogue. As complicated as the Pope’s visit will be from a logistical perspective, I am intrigued about how we in the Jewish community, might find meaning in this historical moment.Continue reading
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 traditional cantor. This powerful link to her roots — spanning time and space — deepened Roberta’s Torah experience all the more so.
This summer, as we encounter Mishkan HaNefesh, our new High Holy Day Machzor, we are posting a weekly question for your response. This week, we asked: From what person or event in Jewish history or in Jewish tradition do you draw inspiration? In other words, what are the lessons you learn from Jews of the past?
In Roberta’s case, a teacher of Jewish ritual who was a relative from her own family touched her. For many, teachers from Jewish history offer connection. We are not alone in our Jewish quest for meaning.Continue reading
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 health form for faculty, so it can be humorously confusing for the doctor to complete questions that were clearly created for an adolescent. You can imagine. As the doctor continues to read down the list of possible ailments, there’s this: does the camper have a problem with eating disorders? With cutting? The doctor looks up at me. “What kind of camp is this?! A place for troubled teens?” “No,” I reply, “it’s just Jewish camp. We worry a lot.”
And truth– there is a lot to worry about. When I think of what it means to raise children and adolescents or to exist as adults in our world, the challenges to a healthy and whole life are overwhelming. Yet there are real resources in our quest for wholeness.Continue reading
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 1992!
The meaning of our new addition is certainly not limited to bricks and mortar. The power of the renovation and expansion has been that, every step of the way, our leadership’s decisions have been mission-driven, fueled by our vision of the people and purpose who will fill its space. Not once has this congregation set out to create a museum; this is a center for living Judaism, where we honor the past, celebrate the present, and shape the future of Jewish life in Philadelphia.
And so it made sense when, about a year ago, a congregant suggested we consider a Jewish text, that might appear on the external Broad Street wall. Continue reading
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. Now at the age of 41, the former Whitehouse intern reflects back when she was 22, and made serious and foolish mistakes, when she began a relationship with her older and exceedingly more powerful boss, the then president of the United States. Lewinsky’s boss abused his power and her friend violated her trust. Still, the most painful part of the experience for Lewinsky was the public humiliation she endured.
In 1998, our society allowed the wrong thing to be used as a korban–a sacrifice– when Monica Lewinsky became the first person to be publicly shamed in the age of the internet. Everyone knew her mistakes, many seemed to derive joy from degrading her, ostracizing her, reducing her to her faults, and exaggerating them beyond recognition. Continue reading
When you move from one home to another, how long does it take until you unpack the final box? Has that last box ever just remained packed, tape still in-tact, perhaps ready for the next move? What’s in there?!
A few weeks ago, much of our Rodeph Shalom staff moved to a different floor or to a different side of the hallway, into temporary office space, to allow for the next stages of renovation and construction. Although I am almost all unpacked, 3 boxes are still staring at me from the floor. I have to wonder: if I have survived for almost a month without their contents, how important could they be?
In an effort to teach simplicity and sustainability, Graham Hill, founder of LifeEdited, lives in an apartment, with over 1,000 square feet of functionality, in only 420 square feet. The bed folds into the wall, the coffee table becomes the dining room table, and a wall of drawers slides over to reveal guest beds folded into another wall… LifeEdited provides products, spaces and tips on how you can have more time, money and happiness with less stuff, less space and less waste.Continue reading
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
