Rabbi Bruce's Reflections on Life

  Dear Friends, As we prepare to complete our Fall Holidays, I encourage you to search for Shemini Atzaeret and Simchat Torah on the My Jewish Learning.com site. Shemini Atzeret gives us a time to remember our loved ones as we complete our intense schedule of the High Holidays and Sukkot.  This is a day when we gather together to reflect on the meaning of the Holiday and Festival season in what is referred to as the Day of Solemn Assembly. Simchat Torah is the day on which we complete the reading of the Torah and begin the cycle of reading it again.  This was the day in 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel and the world changed forever.  It will be a complicated celebration this year because we all have had to reflect on what the attack and subsequent war mean for the future of Israel, Jewish values, and our hopes for peace.  As a rabbi I pray for peace and the safe return of the hostages.  As a professor, I teach about building bridges and hopes for dialogue and discussion. By now, you are

 Dear Friends, There are certain days that one will always remember.  Yesterday was one of them. Celebrating Yom Kippur a year after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7.2023, in the midst of a presidential election, and surrounded by many personal and societal challenges was quite intense. I want to share a few reflections with you.   Elie Wiesel raises the following question which I saw in a quote on a website from Temple B'nai Israel in Panama City , Florida. “The Gaon of Vilna said that   ve-samachta be-chagekha   (You shall rejoice in your festival; Deuteronomy 16:14) is the most difficult commandment in the Torah. I could never understand this puzzling remark. Only during the war did I understand. Those Jews who, in the course of their journey to the end of hope, managed to dance on Simhat Torah, those Jews who studied Talmud by heart while carrying stones on their back, those Jews who went on whispering   Zemirot shel Shabbat   (Hymns of Sabbath) while performing hard labor . . .   v

 Dear Friends and Family, As we prepare for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, I wanted to write a brief note to share where I am turning for inspiration this year. I was attending a Selichot service at a local congregation last Saturday night (a service that helps folks prepare for the new year) and the following lyrics were part of the service. (See below)  When I had my heart attack almost four years ago, my Dentist told me that she thought that the reason I survived was because G-d had a purpose for me and that I needed to fulfill that purpose.  As I celebrate Rosh Hashanah, this song encourages me to do what I can do to create a more peaceful and just world.  As I write this, Iran has attacked Israel and the Middle East is teetering on the brink of a more wide spread war. Our thoughts and prayers are for peace and security for Israel and for all in the Mideast who only want to live together peacefully. May all who are reading this find the courage to make your lives a blessing (c

 Dear Friends, As I write this blog, we are less than two weeks away from the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. In the month which precedes the new year which is called Elul, we begin our preparation for the new year with reflection and contemplation about our lives and changes we wish to make in the coming year. Recently, while traveling and listening to satellite radio, I heard that it was Jackie DeShannon's 83rd birthday.  One of my favorite songs when I was younger and even today is the following: Put a Little Love in Your Heart Song by Jackie DeShannon Overview Lyrics Listen Other recordings Artists Composers Lyrics Think of your fellow man (today, she might say person) Lend him  (today she might say them)  a helping hand Put a little love in your heart You see it's getting late Oh, please don't hesitate Put a little love in your heart And the world will be a better place And the world will be a better place For you and me You just wait and see Another day goes by Still

 Dear Friends, When I served as a congregational rabbi, each Labor Day weekend I would share the following poem by Carl Sandburg during Shabbat/Sabbath services: FISH CRIER I KNOW a Jew fish crier down on Maxwell Street with a      voice like a north wind blowing over corn stubble      in January. He dangles herring before prospective customers evincing      a joy identical with that of Pavlowa dancing. His face is that of a man terribly glad to be selling fish,      terribly glad that God made fish, and customers to      whom he may call his wares, from a pushcart. I share this because it reminded me of the stories that my parents would tell about  the jobs their parents had. As I recall, (my older brothers, who may be reading this, could fact check me),  my paternal grandfather had a wagon or pushcart and would sell coal in the winter and ice in the summer. I suspect that he too was grateful to have customers who would buy the coal and ice during the seasons in which they needed them

  Dear Friends and Family, We are back from most of our travels and I wanted to share a blog about the Jewish Commemoration of Tisha B'Av which we are observing today. Tisha B'Av is the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av and we remember the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem and other tragedies that have occurred to the Jewish people. As we remember these events this year, we think about the horrible Hamas attacks on Israel  which took place on Oct. 7 of 2023 and the subsequent tragic loss of life which continues.  We are all hoping and praying for the release of the hostages and for peace in the region.. I recently gave a talk about what makes this year's observance of Tisha B'Av different from other years.  I spoke in response to the significant division in our Jewish community and beyond, about what an appropriate response should or could have been to the attacks on Oct. 7. This blog is not an attempt to respond to that question.  My desire is to encourage us to