Blog

Don’t ever underestimate the power of connection!
By Susan Kemppainen
Volunteer/Activity Program Coordinator, Mirowitz Center at Covenant Place
Temple Israel member

I recently got a message from a Ph.D. student who read a study I co-authored in 1998. Oh, the beauty of modern technology that...Read more...

My friends, family, and colleagues often say to each other “hashtag 2020.” After all, this year has had many unexpected twists and turns. My husband is on the front lines taking care of patients as a pulmonologist. I have worked full time, helped our kids with virtual school in the Spring, and even launched...Read more...

You probably know that TI volunteers work hard at Monroe Elementary School tutoring students, organizing special holiday programs, and celebrating teachers through our hospitality group. This year, we seized a chance to help in a new way as a third grade teacher started an afterschool basketball program. Coach Alexis Lane...Read more...

How can people psychologically prepare themselves for reentering their world once the shelter in place orders are lifted? The reality is, I, as a psychotherapist, and as a person, do not know. At the time of this writing, none of us know. We do not know what the new rules and restrictions will be or how we will feel.

What I do know, from my professional experience, is that we must go slow. We must individually look around and take...Read more...

This year, to count the Omer, we shared daily reflections on our Facebook page. You can find all the reflections below to peruse and meditate whenever it works for you!

Inspired by what we learned from Rabbi Amy and Rabbi Michael during this morning’s Coffee Talk, we invite you to join...Read more...

Seven is a mystical number in Judaism-Shabbat is the seventh day of the week, brides circle their grooms seven times, we count the Omer period of seven weeks of seven days that take us from Passover to Shavuot.  This week, we hear of yet another mystical use of the number seven with the shmitah, or sabbatical year.  Every seventh year, the Torah teaches us that everyone on earth, and even the earth itself, should get a rest. ...Read more...

This week we read another double portion in the Torah, Acharei Mot-K'doshim. Unlike last week’s portions, which were ostensibly about the same topic, these two cover a huge range of ideas, from how to celebrate Yom Kippur to some of the most important moral teachings of our faith, like honoring our parents, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and judging fairly. It’s some seriously meaty stuff.

Yet as this...Read more...

This week we read what is famously the very worst Torah portion to get for your bar or bat mitzvah. It is a double-portion known as Tazria-M'tzora, both of which deal with some sort of horrible, contagious illness. The portions explain both the details of the sickness itself and the various ways in which it needs to be treated and contained, and they are really not terribly fun. We have always had a special fondness for...Read more...