SB Right – 4 Column

This past Shabbat three people new to Kolot Mayim walked through our doors. Others returned after an absence. Old friends met new people – it was a lovely and special morning. What a blessing it is to have a place and time where chance can intermingle with scheduled. Ki Tavo, our Torah reading this week, […]

We picked the last fig this week, even as we are able to see many more small figs that could ripen in a second season in a different climate. We hold their promise to next years fig-season.  Such is life, anticipation, full taste, move on. Ki Tetze provides us with many mitzvot in a manner […]

As I write this on Sunday afternoon, I am imagining hearing the shofar blown across the world. Today is Rosh Chodesh Elul, the first day of Elul, a new moon, and very special as it is also Rosh Hashanah L’Ma’sar Behemah (Hebrew: ראש השנה למעשר בהמה‎ “New Year for Tithing Animals”) or Rosh Hashanah LaBehemot (Hebrew: ראש השנה לבהמות‎ “New Year for (Domesticated) Animals”. Rosh Chodesh Elul […]

This week is a week where we are commanded to Re’eh, רְאֵה‎, to See. See can mean a visual command, it can also indicate a question; do you understand? But which ‘you’ is the question. Let’s look at the first verse: “See, I present before you today, a blessing and a curse.” This is such a […]

I look forward to these weeks (as we steadily approach the Yomtovim) with a mixture of dread and enormous loving gratitude. Yes, I am all too aware of what an odd combination these emotions reveal. Right on cue, a rabbi I correspond with, spoke about meeting other Rabbonim at a conference recently, and the conversation amongst […]

Va’etchanan is the second parashah in Devarim – where we re-visit the Aseret Dibrot and the Shema – words to live by. I spoke last Shabbat about word – all the many words of our canon and all the words in our subsequent writings. This week we learn to listen, to make time for inner […]

I will be at work this coming week and then I am on leave for the month of July, although available in case of emergency, as needed. This past Shabbat was extraordinary – our shul was full to the brim with friends and family as Morris Bleviss and Maurice Yacowar and Neomi Summers celebrated their […]

I can only hope and pray and take care of myself to the degree necessary, that I will be as robust and active at 83, as I am at 73. Morris, Maurice and Neomi are all examples of elders in our midst, who contribute to the liveliness that is Kolot Mayim. Kol haKavod to each of you, todah […]