Rabbi Scolnic shares his favorite sermons.

Sukkot

You shall dwell in Sukkot seven days. . . In order that future generations will know that I made the Israelites live in Sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. [Leviticus 23:42, 43]

Ritual During A Pandemic

Let’s be very basic: What is ritual? Ritual provides a model of reality, showing how to interpret the world as is, as well as a model for reality, clarifying how life ideally should be.

Ritual brings these two aspects – the “model of” and the “model for” – together.

Ritual is about order and sameness. There is comfort and security in knowing that ritual stays the same, no matter what.

NEW THINGS


There is a controversy that has been raging in Jewish thought, in our civil affairs, and even in everyone’s personal lives for millennia.

FUSION AND FISSION

My grandson Avi has me watching a lot of YouTube segments on science, so let talk a little science.

According to nuclear science, there are two ways we can create vast amounts of energy.

A Different Passover This Year
 
Dear Friend,
 
Why is this Passover going to be different from every other Passover?
 
Passover is going to be very different this year because we are going to have to think through every bit of social contact, even with our loved ones.

For those who have questions about how we can do this, here is what the Conservative movement has stated:

In this crisis situation in an area in which civil and/or medical authorities decree that it is unsafe for people to gather in person and recommend or order the closure of houses of worship, it is permitted to constitute a minyan whose constitutive participants (ten adult Jewish) are not located in one physical place…. In an emergency situation such as the one we are now experiencing, people participating in a minyan that is only online may recite devarim shebikdushah, prayers that require a minyan, with their community. The participants counted for the minyan must be able to see and hear each other through virtual means and be able to respond “Amen” and other liturgical replies to the prayer leader.

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