Shabbat Greetings
This week, we read Parashat Emor (Leviticus 21:1-24:23) which contains priestly laws and rules of sacrifice. At the end of this portion, in contrast to all the rules of sanctity, appears a story of an offensive man who blasphemes God. The Torah tells us that the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man goes out…
Welcome our new Religious School Director
Please welcome David Gronlund-Jacob, Temple Shalom’s new Religious School Director. After a career in sales and sales management, David returned to school and received a MARE from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2004. He has been the director of the Religious Schools in Westfield, Chester, and most recently with Temple Rodeph Torah…
Celebrate Summer 50/50 raffle
The raffle winner will be pulled June 12th at the annual congregational meeting. Winner need not be present. Purchase tickets here.
Shabbat Greetings
This week’s portion, Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1-20:27) continues to discuss the laws of holiness, changing focus from the world of the Sanctuary and Priests to the Israelites as a whole, commanding them to be holy. The opening chapter contains the “holiness code” with its commands to love the neighbor and the stranger, as well as other…
Shabbat Greetings
When I have taken our post-Confirmation students on trips, one of the things we always try to do is visit a church on Sunday morning so we can learn more about our Christian neighbors. Even though I prepare them, when they walk towards the chapel for the service and the experience of the Roman Catholic…
Shabbat Greetings
In the Disney musical, Frozen 2, Anna sings: I’ve seen dark before, but not like this This is cold, this is empty, this is numb The life I knew is over; the lights are out Hello darkness: I’m ready to succumb I follow you around, she sings, (I always have) But you’ve gone to a…
Shabbat Greetings
These past two years when we celebrated Pesach, I don’t think we realized that we were actually ENTERING Egypt, Mitzrayim, the narrow place, the place of confinement. Now, for some of us, we read the Haggadah through an entirely new lens. The brilliance of our tradition and rituals is that the depth of meaning never…
Shabbat Greetings
Much like COVID, pandemics throughout history, from the Black Death to the 1918 influenza outbreak to HIV/AIDS, all have exposed deep fissures within our society. Plagues magnify issues of economic disparity, access to quality health care, and food and housing insecurity (G. Alfani & T. Murphy, “Plague and Lethal Epidemics in the Pre-Industrial World,” Journal of…
Shabbat Greetings
This week’s Torah portion, Tazria (Leviticus 12:1-13:59) discusses tzara’at, a skin disease understood in rabbinic tradition as punishment for lashon hara, evil speech. The public retribution is that the afflicted person suffers so that we see the powerful warning for us to “guard our tongues.” It was with words that God created the world, and our words have…
Brotherhood Men’s Seder
Join us for a unique seder designed specifically for men. April 5 at 7:00pm Get more details here.
Shabbat Greetings
This Shabbat, we are excited to welcome Naomi Less into our community as a guest of the Alan J Malinger Rock Shabbat program. My dad died over 4 1/2 years ago. To say his death has had a profound effect on my life would be an unspeakable understatement. I miss him but I am grateful for…
Temple Shalom Community Seder
Spring brings the promise of so many new beginnings and rebirth after a long cold winter. This year, more than ever, we are excited to join together as a congregation, in person! Passover, sometimes known as the Festival of Freedom, starts on Friday evening, April 15th. On Saturday evening, April 16th at 5:30pm we are…