Wilshire POV

Last night I had dinner with a woman visiting from Israel who represents the Jewish mindfulness organization Or HaLev . We spent a good amount of time talking about her experience, and her family, and how her practice of meditation has helped her garner resilience during such a terribly difficult time for her and her family. She then asked me what do Jewish leaders - rabbis and cantors, especially...

This week in the secular, entertainment calendar, we find ourselves right in the middle of the most holy season: award season. And of course award season includes endless red carpets and the striking fashion that comes along with it. As celebrities make their way down the red carpet, some looks will become iconic, some fine but unmemorable, and some declared to be the worst. In the Torah portion t...

‘“The Eternal spoke to Moses saying: Tell the Israelites that they should bring me an offering, from every person whose heart is willing, bring for me a gift” (Exodus 25:1-2). Grammatically, we must ask why it says a “gift,” which connotes raising up?’ This question brought me back to my 1st year biblical hebrew class, and the word used for an offering or gift, terumah . In that hebrew word are th...

I received a text earlier this week from a congregant who sent me a picture of himself buying his first pair of tefillin. The picture was accompanied by the caption, “How my mornings start now.” To be honest, this is not someone I would have ever expected to wrap tefillin Each week, a member of the clergy offers their personal perspective on a topic of their choice, such as the week's Torah p...

It is always a good day when a child takes the words right out of a rabbi’s mouth. Last Sunday afternoon at religious school at the Resnick campus, I shared the story of this week’s Torah portion (as the Torah portion each week runs from Sunday-Saturday) with the Kindergarten-2nd Grade students. As I began the story of Moses confronting Pharaoh to let the Israelites out of slavery and into freedom...

This year, the opening and closing of the parashah Vayeitzei provide another unique view into our modern circumstances.  Each week, a member of the clergy offers their personal perspective on a topic of their choice, such as the week's Torah portion, a Jewish holiday, ritual, custom, or history. Facebook: Wilshire Boulevard Temple Website: wbtla.org Youtube: Wilshire Boulevard Temple Instagra...

This week, Rabbi Joel Nickerson was invited to speak to the student body at St. James Episcopal School, a K-6 school in Koreatown. How do you share what the Jewish community is experiencing right now with a predominantly non-Jewish audience and in a way that is age-appropriate for Kindergarten through 6th-grade students?  You tell the truth, and you focus on hope.  I share it with you today becaus...

This week’s torah portion, Chayei Sarah, directly follows the episode of the “Akeida”, where God orders Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. Throughout the centuries, there have been countless studies devoted to the incomprehensible dedication shown by Abraham in his willingness to follow through on God’s command. We’re astonished that Abraham could put aside the compassion he obviously fe...

Each week, a member of the clergy offers their personal perspective on a topic of their choice, such as the week's Torah portion, a Jewish holiday, ritual, custom, or history. Facebook: Wilshire Boulevard Temple Website: wbtla.org Youtube: Wilshire Boulevard Temple Instagram: wilshireboulevardtemple

Our Torah portion this week, Ki Tavo, includes an important mitzvah for tending to these fruits and crops. As Deut. 26 teaches, when the bikkurim, the first fruits of the season, appear in your fields, you must gather them up and bring them to the priests as an offering to God. We cannot eat them ourselves. It is a curious offering, however, because the first produce of the crop is often not the b...

Just before the start of Summer, my husband and I experienced a right of passage for any Jewish parent. We witnessed our oldest son be “Shabbat Boy,” at Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Early Childhood Center. One of the highlights of the morning was the “mitzvah song.” The whole class (grown ups included) sits around in a circle, while the Shabbat child, in this case, Joey, walks around collecting eac...

The images coming out of Israel earlier this week seemed to offer a different, more somber version of the gathering I had attended. On Monday, the government’s coalition in the Knesset approved a provision that removed the Supreme Court’s authority to determine if a government decision is ‘reasonable’, popularly known as the ‘reasonableness clause.’  Most Israelis saw this clause as an important e...

As many of you know, I am the mother of Joey (3.5) and Ezra (1). Joe and I are deep in what social media refers to as “the trenches” of parenthood. Sleepless nights, potty training, diapers, first steps, baby proofing, and of course epic toddler meltdowns are part of our daily routine, as our personal lives are spent in sheer survival mode.  I know many of you have been there, but after a long day...

In this week’s Torah portion, a “man of repute,” by the name of Korach, and his 250 followers rebel against Moses, and his brother Aaron.  In true biblical fashion, a sacrifice gauntlet is tossed, and each of the 250 rebels are asked to offer an incense burning before God, to see which leader God accepts.  Spoiler alert, the ground opens up and swallows Korach, his two sidekicks and their families...

The Israelites were flipping out. Freedom and having faith in God was not going so well. The Israelites are whining. A lot.   Bad goes to worse in this week’s portion.   Moses sends 12 scouts to check out the land flowing with milk and honey. Moses wants to uplift the people by giving them a glimpse into the Promised Land. 12 scouts go out. 12 come back. Each week, a member of the clergy offers th...

One of the most profound stories in the Talmud is about a man called Honi the Circle Maker. One day, Honi is walking down the street when he meets an old man who is planting a carob tree. Honi asks the man how long the tree will take to bear fruit. “Seventy years,” answers the old fellow. Mocking him, Honi asks why he would plant a tree that he might never eat from. “I was born into a world with c...

My Shabbat message was going to focus on Mother’s Day.  I wanted to explore the tragic tale of the holiday’s founder, Anna M. Jarvis , and the lessons we can learn from her story.  I wanted to discuss the central Jewish value of honoring parents and our ancestral mothers’ influence on the Jewish concept of ‘home’.   But then the news started coming out of Israel about airstrikes and air raid siren...

This week gives us a double dose of Torah portions as we read Acharei-Mot and Kedoshim. If we read the titles in a certain way it poses a probing question. Acharei-Mot? Kedoshim? “After death? Are we holy?” or “How can we know that when our lives are over, where we are after death that holiness remains?”   As we read a little further, the Torah’s answer becomes clear.   Each week, a member of the...

The first time I really heard about the suffering of Persian Jews  -- not just in snippets, but in detail - was last week. This past Sunday, I cohosted an event with Sinai Temple to hear Dora Levy Mossanen, a Persian Jewish author, talk about her latest book, which took place in the Jewish Quarter of Teheran in the 1940’s. Fifty women gathered in the beautiful home our Persian Jewish hostess – hal...

Forget about social media declarations – #NewYearNewMe, or grandiose goals of weight loss, self-care, or book clubs, because our tradition spells it all out for us. All of the different ways that we can try to be our best self; the new and improved version of who we were during Pesach, and all YOU have to do is count the Omer. The Omer was an ancient measurement of grain, and refers to the barley...

At the center of the Passover seder experience sits a plate. It is used only once during the year, and it is adorned with foods that symbolize the central themes associated with the holiday. The word for seder plate in Hebrew is ' ka'arah ' and within the ancient rabbinic mindset, that word connected the seder plate to more than just Passover - it was a representation of the entire...

"My technologically challenged mother got a new iPhone this week and I was her first call. 'What should I do with my old one?' she asked, which got me thinking, said Rabbi Beau Shapiro. When something’s obsolete, when we’ve lost our use for it—we discard it and rarely give it another thought.   We read in the Torah this shabbat that after the construction of the mishkan , the portab...

I have a confession to make. Until recently, I was never a big fan of Queen Esther. For me, she always paled in comparison to a lot of other Biblical heroines that I admire. Each week, a member of the clergy offers their personal perspective on a topic of their choice, such as the week's Torah portion, a Jewish holiday, ritual, custom, or history. Facebook: Wilshire Boulevard Temple Website:...

This week’s parashah, Terumah , teaches us the importance and purpose of building the mishkan , the portable tabernacle/sanctuary that the Israelites carried through the desert, as well as the many detailed instructions on how to build it. Each week, a member of the clergy offers their personal perspective on a topic of their choice, such as the week's Torah portion, a Jewish holiday, ritual,...

Rabbi Elissa Ben-Naim considers a particularly troubling  week and the wisdom and perspective she gained from her Grade 6 students. Each week, a member of the clergy offers their personal perspective on a topic of their choice, such as the week's Torah portion, a Jewish holiday, ritual, custom, or history. Facebook: Wilshire Boulevard Temple Website: wbtla.org Youtube: Wilshire Boulevard Temp...