SB Right – 3 Column
Chukkat
Shabbat shalom everyone. I will be in Vancouver over the weekend officiating at the wedding of Ben Rolph, son of Wendy and Glenn Rolph Ben will be marrying his beloved Anna Klenin. We wish them and their families mazal tov. Chukkat, our Torah reading for this week, is one of the strangest sections in Torah. […]
Words from the Rabbi’s Desk
It is so good to be home. My ordination weekend was spectacularly wonderful, emotionally moving and filled with moments I will remember to the end of my days. And I was so happy to be back at Kolot Mayim on Shabbat morning. We celebrated with Deena Kinarthy, and her family, Elior, Leah, and Ari, here […]
Naso
Shalom Aleichem, Many years ago, one of my students celebrated his Bar Mitzvah with Parashat Naso. I remember his reading of Torah as if it were this morning. M. was called to Torah, and all of us – the rabbi, his parents and me, his teacher and gabbai sheini, leaned in to help as needed […]
Shavuot
Shalom Aleichem. In Tales of Hasidim, by Martin Buber there is a teaching I thought I would like to consider this week: The Rabbi of Kotzk was asked: “Why is Shavuot called ‘the time the Torah was given’ rather than the time we received the Torah?” He answered: “The giving took place on one day, but the receiving takes […]
Bechukotai
Shalom Aleichem. What gives our lives meaning and purpose? Do you get up in the morning and look at your day planner – electronic or handwritten or printed? Do you look at today’s appointments within the larger context of the week – or even a month? Do you make grocery lists? Or, do you wake […]
B’har
Shalom Aleichem. God owns the Land – God is our landowner and property owner, and in B’har, God is teaching us basic land husbandry. The Israelite people could work the fields for six years, but in the seventh year, the land was to have a Sabbath of complete rest. Dever notes, “The people could work the […]
Emor
Recently I attended a workshop on the Jewish soul, led by one of our esteemed congregants, Dr. Elior Kinarthy. After Elior provided descriptions of the reality of the soul, he invited us into a guided meditation, a visualization of our soul. My role was primarily that of time-keeper, but I joined the group as we […]
Kedoshim
Shalom Aleichem Kedoshim is a sidra dense with instructions about how to bring holiness into our lives –to bring ourselves closer to the Divine. These mitzvot are also, dare I say, designed to create an envelope of trust, for what could be closer to holiness than trust?
Balak
July 16, 2019 by Rabbi Lynn Greenhough • From the Rabbi's Desk Tags: balak •
I am honoured to be at a Bat Mitzvah ceremony this Thursday, July 18, with the family and friends of Annie Marcovitz. The following text is Annie’s D’var Torah, which I thought would be a lovely way to share her simcha with Kolot Mayim members. The photograph is the challah cover that Annie mentions. Shabbat […]