Rabbi Jaech's Blog

How are we measuring up in these difficult times?  How do we compare to previous generations? Are we as strong, as meritorious, as righteous as the generations that came before us?

If you look at Jewish tradition, one answer is no.

There is a longstanding theme in our tradition that the present generation cannot live up to the generations that came before us.

I have absorbed this message.

For example, when...Read more...

This year, our Passover Seders just won’t be the same. We cannot gather with all our family members and friends around our seder table (though if we are lucky, we may be able to see their faces on a screen).  And the Passover dishes we are used to making?  This year we may not be able to find all the ingredients we need.  Or maybe we just won’t have the energy to cook so extensively. 
 

That’s...Read more...

The coronavirus pandemic has forced us into separation from each other.  It is even more important to nurture our spiritual life and remember our connection to each other. Prayer and meditation can help us stay grounded, whether or not we believe in a traditional conception of God. 

The traditional prayers for the morning include a passage called “Nisim B’chol Yom” (A prayer for daily miracles).   Amy Asin...Read more...

This week, six of our confirmation (10th grade) students traveled to Washington, D.C. with me, where they wrote and delivered impressive presentations to congressional staff.  They spoke about gun violence prevention, mental health funding in schools, and reproductive rights.  With their permission, I share their presentations with you. 

Delivered to Senator Schumer's aide:  Gun Violence Prevention

My...Read more...

On Hanukkah we tell the story of the Maccabees’ victory.  But ultimately, the victory was short-lived.   Just over two centuries after the Maccabees rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem, the Temple lay in ruins, destroyed by the Romans.  Jews never mounted a serious attempt to rebuild it.  What had been the center of Jewish religious life had become obsolete. 

Why did this happen?  Worship...Read more...

My cell phone rang as I was waiting for a funeral to begin.  On my way to the cemetery, I returned the call.  One of my colleagues from the Peekskill Area Pastor’s Association called to invite me to speak at PAPA’s Interfaith Thanksgiving service on Sunday, November 24th.   She ended her message with: “Please say yes!”

I said yes.  I admire and appreciate my colleague and wanted to help.  Also, I...Read more...

I live in Peekskill. In recent months I have watched a controversy about relocating the Jan Peek Shelter to a more suitable location lead to ugly and divisive attacks against the organization that runs both this shelter for homeless individuals and the food banks in Peekskill: CHHOP (Caring for the Hungry and Homeless of Peekskill).

At Temple Israel, we have embraced the Jewish mandate to care for the most vulnerable in our...Read more...

“Hi Rabbi, it’s Amy Hersh! How are you? Would you like me to come over and sing a song for you?”

I said yes, of course. I had been in my office, remembering a conversation I had with fifth graders on Sunday. I had been talking with them about Yom HaShoah, and one of the students in the room brought up the synagogue shooting in California. Just thinking about that conversation drained me. Why should fifth graders know about such...Read more...

This was originally given at Shabbat services on January 12, 2019.  

In the high desert of eastern Washington where I grew up, we regularly had dust storms. Ferocious winds would lift dirt and sand from the ground and blot out the sun from the sky. 

One afternoon, a dust storm came when I was walking home from school.  The sky turned dark with dust, and the strong wind whipped the stinging dirt into my...Read more...

It has been a little over a month since the murders in Pittsburgh.  Now we may wonder whether it is safe to attend public Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremonies with our children.  This question was discussed in a Facebook group for Jewish parents of Northern Westchester.  It is a reasonable question. We live in a time when bigots feel empowered to express their hate and to act on it. Is it safe to publicly proclaim our...Read more...

In Peekskill, where I live, there is a controversy brewing.  The Jan Peek shelter is planning to move to a new location.  Over the years, Temple Israel has supported this shelter for homeless people by sending food and donations.  The shelter must move from its current location by the waterfront.  Its leaders plan to relocate the shelter to a location on Washington Street. In the new facility, residents will be able...Read more...

What will I say in my High Holy Day sermons? This is the question rabbis across the nation tackle during the waning days of summer. I am no exception. However, my sermon-writing process might be different from many of my rabbinic colleagues.

I do not begin writing my sermons with an outline or even a set of topics. Instead, I begin with stories I want to tell. Most of the time the stories are rooted in my own experiences of the past...Read more...

As we approach the festival of Shavuot, the holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah, I’ve been thinking about the warning issued to the people: The warning to stay outside the boundaries set around Mount Sinai.

In the Torah’s story, only Moses and Aaron could approach the mountain.   Everyone else had to view the divine communication, the revelation, from afar. To approach the mountain was dangerous.[1]

I...Read more...

If you were the director of a Jewish religious school,
Would you hold a session on Mother’s Day?  (Show of hands)
Many of the synagogues around us close on Mother’s Day–
And not only the Reform synagogues.

Temple Israel never has, as far as I know.
Although some have expressed displeasure at that decision over the years.   
But although we did not close for mother’s day,
We did do...Read more...