SB Right – Large Image List

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 […]