Wilshire POV

In this week's Shabbat message, Cantor Peicott discusses the significance of names and how our name is held in the very soul of who we are as a person.  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 Youtub...

Dichotomy. The portion this week is called “and he lived”; yet, this portion is the long scene of how Jacob dies completely lucid, with intention, and surrounded by his family. Perhaps there is no dichotomy really at all- the way that we see Jacob die is how he sets up his legacy with intention and the loving care of a parent who has seen and experienced the fullest range of life’s trials and trib...

Enough is enough. That is the phrase stuck in my mind as I reflect on the year 2022. When I  consider why, it is because I approach the phrase from two perspectives.  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.o...

It’s all about the Light.    As a kid growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, winters were severe and seemingly endless. Serial snowstorms, single digit temperatures above and below zero. November through March and often most of April were dreary, dark, and depressing. The worst of it all I realize now, wasn’t the daily challenges brought by winter weather: shoveling the driveway from apron to garage (120...

This is the real miracle of Chanukah . It’s not about the mythic story that a small bit of oil lasted for eight days. The miracle of Chanukah is the immutable, unbreakable, Jewish spirit that always finds a way, not to simply survive, but to thrive, and to bring a little light into even the darkest of places. Each week, a member of the clergy offers their personal perspective on a topic of their c...

There is no way to ignore the violence we’ve witnessed this past week in the United States and in Israel.  It’s all terrible and tragic.  But amidst all of it, I’ve also had meaningful conversations with people who have reconnected to our Jewish tradition, some of whom decided to join our tribe through conversion, and those who are beginning to explore the possibility of joining our Jewish family....

Veterans Day 2022 Today, November 11th, we honor our Veterans. We might wear patriotic clothes, some sing military anthems, perhaps we even fly the flag of the United States of America. We pay tribute to the great sacrifice these brave men and women made, and continue to make for our country, for our freedoms, and for our democracy – each and every day. But when the parades are over and the flag h...

"Now is the time in our lives in our time to use speech to make a difference, to make a change," writes Rabbi Elissa Ben-Naim.  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 Boulevar...

“Just as you judged me favorably, so may God Judge you favorably.”– Chasidic Blessing This New Year, let us choose life over death by choosing forgiveness over bitterness. Let’s judge others as we too would like to be judged. After all, they, like we, are only human…flawed as we are flawed, wanting most of all to love and be loved. Each week, a member of the clergy offers their personal perspectiv...

Pioneers or victims? Rabbi Beau Shapiro asks an interesting question. 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

Rabbi Jonah of Gerona said, "One must ask oneself, "What have I done? What have I become?"  This past week, we entered into the month of Elul, the last month of the Jewish year before Rosh Hashanah, and what I would call the gateway into a powerful Jewish spiritual dimension. Though there are no holidays during Elul, every day is a holy day during which we have an opportunity to rev...

The first time I listened to Steely Dan’s album Pretzel Logic in my buddy Darrel Heald’s Buick on the way to an AZA meeting at the JCC was a religious experience. The year, 1974. I, a fourteen-year—old bundle of swagger, insecurity, angst, zits, big hair and bell bottoms, limitless curiosity about reward with almost zero regard for risk. I was both certain and confused about the world and my place...

One of the things I appreciate about transitional moments is that they allow me to reset and re-visit the people, places, ideas, values, and priorities that can enhance my life. The next few months are going to be busy and exciting for me. I get to lead High Holy Day services and look out at real people instead of just a video camera. My oldest daughter is starting high school. My middle daughter...

Meditation just isn’t something one is good at or not good at. The idea is that while practicing meditation, we sit with and acknowledge whatever is in front of us in the moment. Sometimes that something is pleasant; other times it is excruciating. So meditation isn’t necessarily about finding your bliss. The idea is that when we practice sitting with what is, we become more skilled at recognizing...

The Rabbis of the Talmudic era ask us to look at these tragedies as not only external forces seeking to destroy us (clearly we as a Jewish community have plenty) but to also look internally and examine the actions of the community. As we enter this commemorative and mournful period of Tish B’av,  we are compelled to not only look at the historical moments of baseless hatred but look within at our...

A little over a week ago, my brother Arthur, his two sons and daughters-in-law, and his six grandchildren all went to the Highland Park Fourth of July Parade.  And the dream turned into a nightmare. A nightmare that has been experienced by countless other communities in our country.  A nightmare that suddenly felt very up close and personal. Each week, a member of the clergy offers their personal...

Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro asks, "Have you ever been so angry and frustrated that you lashed out and struck an inanimate object?" This experience is something that most of us can connect with, even though we may feel uncomfortable recalling a time when we did so. This week’s portion contains such a moment, where Moses, our most revered teacher, becomes exasperated and infuriated with...

This week’s Torah portion, Korach, arrives as what seems to be an intervention from the Most High. It serves as a brutally disturbing reminder of the devastation wrought by the corrupt human lust for power. God knows we weren’t in need of it, for we are living witnesses to its catastrophic casualties.   Korach and his co-conspirators, Datan and Aviram, plan and execute a rebellion against Moses an...

In this week's Shabbat message, Rabbi Nanus talks about this week's torah portion, Parshat Shelach L’cha, and it's teaching that to give up and refuse to move forward condemns us to a barren life of unfulfillment – a life in a desert. When we are so afraid of change or taking a step into new territory, we become paralyzed, condemned to repeat the same self-defeating patterns. We hav...

In this week’s Shabbat Message, Rabbi Joel Nickerson shares his excitement of leaving his bubble to lead to the B'nei Mitzvah Israel Trip. He reflects on how it can also sometimes feel easier and safer to stay in your bubble, but as we learn in this week’s Torah portion, even the Israelites need to leave the comfort of their encampment at the base of Mt. Sinai (where they’ve been staying for...

In this week’s Shabbat Message, @rabbibennaim shared how the words of the Priestly Blessing included in this week’s Torah portion have impacted her throughout the years. Although she has heard them time and time again, and repeated them time and time again, they never lose their meaning. Each week, a member of the clergy offers their personal perspective on a topic of their choice, such as the wee...

The Confirmation ritual was created to be celebrated alongside the holiday of Shavuot - the moment in time when we recognize the gift of Torah. In Jewish theological parlance, we speak about the giving of Torah using the word “revelation”. I love this word in the context of the Confirmation service. It is a joyful experience to think about our kids as having stood alongside us, our ancestors, and...

"This year, my family and I are experiencing the “Ultimate Omer,” as we eagerly anticipate the days until (God-willing) the arrival of a new baby," says Cantor Lisa Peicott as she begins this week's Shabbat message and shares her personal insights into the counting of days.  Each week, a member of the clergy offers their personal perspective on a topic of their choice, such as the w...

This Shabbat arrives holding an impossible truth in its wings of peace: the two most transformative events in modern Jewish history: the Holocaust and the establishment of the modern State of Israel. This past week we made, as we must, the annual descent into the darkness of the hell of Jewish hatred and annihilation. Not doing so is a dangerous form of denial. This coming week we will make the an...

Our Jewish tradition requires us to be counting right now, in a tradition called the ‘Counting of the Omer’ which lasts for 49 days. The kabbalists, or Jewish mystics, associated each of the 49 days with Godly characteristics – chesed (lovingkindness), gevurah (strength), tiferet (harmony), netzach (eternity), hod (glory), yesod (foundation), and malchut (God’s presence on earth). Each day represe...