Ad Olam - Synagogue Without Walls

10/21/2025

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09/30/2025

Thursday Yom Kippur Playshops added.
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09/22/2025

Reminder: Rosh Hashanah 6:45pm Monday and 11am Tuesday.
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10/10/2024

10/04/2024

L' Shanah Tovah

Hallelujah My teacher Rabbi Hanan Sills considered himself to be a teacher of Jewishing. He was suspicious of -isms, which he believed created needless division, and saw religious labels as constrictive overcoats. To Rabbi Hanan, Jewishing was a way of being in the world—a verb, not a thing—and ...

09/25/2024

It is traditional to read Psalm 27 (from David) during this month. Here is an interpretive translation with Ad Olam sensibilities.

Psalm 27: My Light and My Hope (Jewish Lights - September 3, 2024)

you are my light and my hope, why should i fear?
you are my life and my strength, why do i tremble?

when i contemplate surrender to my dread of the unknown,
i hold tight to you and your strength gives me strength.

i only ask one thing of you, just this one thing:
that i may be welcome in your house all the days of my life,
to dwell in your innermost place beneath the softness of your wings.

I seek your shelter when i am wracked by hardship and disquiet;
from your deepest depths I will sing hymns to the darkness with openness and love

do you hear my song?
don’t you hear me when I cry to you?
do not turn away – i seek you endlessly,
i turn constantly toward your light.

even in my darkest moments of this i am sure:
I am never alone,
yes, even if my father and mother abandoned me,
i know you are there to gather me up

guide me in your ways,
lead me down the paths of wholeness and peace,
remind me that no matter how far i may stray
there is always a road to return.

though i don’t always see it i will trust in your goodness
right here, right now in the land of the living.

hold on to your hope and be strong –
the season of our return is at hand.

09/23/2024

As the Holy Days Approach

According to tradition Yom Kippur, the day of atonement began as a ritual created by Moses for the atonement of the Israelites for worshipping the golden calf. About a thousand years later during the Babylonian exile, the Jews borrowed the deeper understandings of healing and transformation as psychological processes that took time. Thus, Rosh Hashanah was created along with the 10-day period, the Days of Awe, in which we are invited to engage in the process of reflection and change.

Wise folks have realized that the fall season can be a useful time to facilitate these difficult transformational processes. Many cultures have understood how the fall season as a time when the veils between the worlds thins and we can become more connected to the transcendent mystical forces that shape our lives. In this spirit, the month of Elul, preceding Rosh Hashanah, has become a time of “an accounting of the soul” and an opening of the heart in preparation for the Days of Awe.

If you are interested in this process, I offer you the following questions to help in your self-reflection. - Sholom, Jordan

Questions to help in Self-Reflection:

Can I imagine a better version of myself?

What is preventing me from being that person?
What is the best possible future imaginable for the world?

Is there anything I can do to help bring that world into existence?
What are some of the ways that I am not fully satisfied with my life?

Do I have needs that are not being met?

Are there any unresolved conflicts in my life, either within my psyche or between me and anyone else?

Is there anything I can do to resolve these conflicts?

Is there anything I am afraid of?

What would be the end result if any of those things came to pass?

Do I love myself, other beings, and the Eternal One?
Is there anything in the way of loving more?