Jewish Relationships Initiative

06/02/2026

The Blueprint for Sustaining the Light-Parshat Behaalotecha

Why do we keep looking back at a past that wasn’t even that good? That’s the question hiding inside Parshat Behaalotecha. The Israelites have everything: the Mishkan, the cloud, the fire, the infrastructure of a people on the move toward something sacred. And within chapters, they’re weeping for Egypt’s cucumbers. It would be easy to judge them. It is harder to recognize ourselves....

Why do we keep looking back at a past that wasn’t even that good? That’s the question hiding inside Parshat Behaalotecha. The Israelites have everything: the Mishkan, the cloud, the fire, the infra…

06/01/2026

You Knew What You Were Getting Into with Mamdani

Years ago, a friend came to me frustrated that his child’s Quaker school wasn’t fully observing Jewish holidays. He wanted to vent — and then wanted to know what we could do about it. My answer was simple: you knew what you were getting into. The Quaker school system serves many communities, cultures, and traditions. Its mission isn’t to support any one of them; it’s to instill the values it considers foundational....

Years ago, a friend came to me frustrated that his child’s Quaker school wasn’t fully observing Jewish holidays. He wanted to vent — and then wanted to know what we could do about it. My answer was…

05/29/2026

Shabbat Shalom

Bridge over Troubled Water is a to prepare for Shabbat Naso. Naso gives us the Priestly Blessing — the oldest words in continuous Jewish use. Simon & Garfunkel found the same melody three thousand years later. Our prayer for peace עוֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל כָּל יוֺשְׁבֵי תֵבֶל, וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu, v'al kol Yisrael, v’al kol yoshvei tevel v'imru amen....

Bridge over Troubled Water is a to prepare for Shabbat Naso. Naso gives us the Priestly Blessing — the oldest words in continuous Jewish use. Simon & Garfunkel found the same melody three thous…

05/27/2026

What Jealousy Knows That Love Forgets- Parsha Naso

I have sat with people whose trust has shattered — in marriages, friendships, and communities — and almost always, the breaking came not from a single dramatic act but from a slow accumulation of doubt. A question that shouldn’t have needed asking. A silence that lasted too long. Parashat Naso knows this gap intimately. It moves through every layer of broken trust, from the outside in: communal rupture, a marriage poisoned not by confirmed betrayal but by suspicion, and finally the Nazir — the one who has seen enough human brokenness to withdraw from relationships altogether....

I have sat with people whose trust has shattered — in marriages, friendships, and communities — and almost always, the breaking came not from a single dramatic act but from a slow accumulation of d…

05/25/2026

We Remember Them

05/22/2026

Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom

05/20/2026

Freedom’s just another word…

This week we celebrate Shavuot, the moment at Sinai when God gave us the Torah, z’man matan Torah. “We left Egypt to be free. So why did we go straight to a mountain and accept a set of obligations?” What did we say yes to? And why does it feel like freedom? These are the questions our tradition asks us to ask ourselves....

This week we celebrate Shavuot, the moment at Sinai when God gave us the Torah, z’man matan Torah. “We left Egypt to be free. So why did we go straight to a mountain and accept a set of obligations…

05/15/2026

Shabbat Shalom

BaMidbar, or the Wilderness, is where Torah is given. We were unmoored until our encounter with the Divine. The questions Bob Dylan asks in Blowin' in the Wind are the questions we all must ask as we traverse the wilderness. We pray for peace. עוֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל כָּל יוֺשְׁבֵי תֵבֶל, וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן...

BaMidbar, or the Wilderness, is where Torah is given. We were unmoored until our encounter with the Divine. The questions Bob Dylan asks in Blowin’ in the Wind are the questions we all must …

05/13/2026

Finding Humanity in the Wilderness-Bamidbar

We are living in a wilderness. The landmarks we relied on — shared institutions, common ground, the assumption that the person across from us inhabits the same basic reality — have grown unfamiliar. We are between what was and whatever comes next. Disoriented. And tempted, as people always are in disorienting times, to cluster into tribes, to find safety in the familiar, and to stop seeing the people just outside our camp....

We are living in a wilderness. The landmarks we relied on — shared institutions, common ground, the assumption that the person across from us inhabits the same basic reality — have grown unfamiliar…

05/08/2026

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As we enter Shabbat, this week's Torah portion reminds us that we are in it together. Praying for peace and wholeness, Shabbat Shalom עוֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל כָּל יוֺשְׁבֵי תֵבֶל וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu, v'al kol Yisrael, v’al kol yoshvei tevel v'imru amen. May the One who makes peace in the high places, bring peace upon us, and upon all Israel, and all humankind, and let us say: Amen.

As we enter Shabbat, this week’s Torah portion reminds us that we are in it together. Praying for peace and wholeness, Shabbat Shalom עוֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינ…