The Kitchen

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10/14/2024

My teaching from Kol Nidre, it was our hardest year, would love for you to listen:

In fact, it seems to me
All four of these rabbis, and their perspectives
Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Elisha ben Abuyah, and Akiva
are within each of us

And so, if we want to find our way through this severe chapter in Jewish history,
this particular orchard, what I am calling the פַּרְדֵּס of 10.7
We will need to go with them, to see their versions of the פַּרְדֵּס just as they see it
To go and, in the end, like Akiva, try to return whole

Kol Nidrei 5785 Rabbi Noa Kushner Four Entered the Orchard, One Returned in Peace: The פַּרְדֵּס of 10.7 In fact, it seems to me All four of these rabbis, and their perspectives Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Elisha ben Abuyah, and Akiva are within each of us And so, if we want to find our way throug...

09/23/2024

"...Now we can start to understand why it is our hands are mentioned
We can understand why the priest has to take the basket from our hands

It is because we cannot offer it all by ourselves.

That is, to offer it ourselves is simply too much to ask of us --
To grow something like that and then let it go without any help."

My teaching from last shabbat, parashat Ki Tavo

Parashat Ki Tavo / Sep 20 Rabbi Noa Kushner Ready or Not Perhaps now we can start to understand why it is our hands are mentioned We can understand why the priest has to take the basket from our hands It is because we cannot offer it all by ourselves That is, to offer it ourselves is simply t

09/17/2024

“Sometimes what needs to be revealed begins with the not-finding.”

With the moon that sets
Or even, is hidden in the sky

Because the not-finding reminds us of our longing for what's missing

That as much as we love the light of the moon, we desire more than the moon

My torah from last shabbat on all that goes unheard and unseen:

Parashat Ki Tetzei / Sep 14 Rabbi Noa Kushner Now You See Me, Now You Don't “Sometimes what needs to be revealed begins with the not-finding.” With the moon that sets Or even, is hidden in the sky Because the not-finding reminds us of our longing That as much as we love the light of

09/09/2024

If I accept that this giant swath of the Israeli population,
Many of whom are grieving personal family members and friends,
Including the hostages and hundreds of soldiers who have been slain,
If I accept, as Netanyahu suggests, that this giant swath of the Israeli population are all Hamas sympathizers —

And the only other choice I am offered is continuing to fight Hamas, which requires life after life after life
More war and force

Accepting this kind of cheap truth, cheap choice
Would be as preposterous as choosing between one of my two eyes
Any way I choose will blind

My derasha from shabbat, parashat shoftim: Eye to Eye / עַ֤יִן בְּעַ֙יִן֙

Parashat Shoftim / Sep 6 Rabbi Noa Kushner עַ֤יִן בְּעַ֙יִן֙ / Eye to Eye If I accept that this giant swath of the Israeli population, Many of whom are grieving personal family members and friends, Including the hostages and hundreds of soldiers who have been slain, If I a...

08/12/2024

"...If anyone understands once-in-a-generation opportunities, it is Moses

And if anyone understands what it means to miss those opportunities and pay the price, it is Moses"

Tisha B'Av, vision and lack there of, looking back and looking forward - my teaching from Friday: What Took Us So Long

Parashat Devarim / Aug 9 Rabbi Noa Kushner What Took Us So Long It's not that we are back here again It's that we're standing in the spot where our parents made their biggest mistakes Where our parents were presented with what seemed inconceivable at the time — and good But they could not overco

06/04/2024

"And the stone became as light as the stopper on a perfume bottle." My teaching from Friday about weight, moving impossible things, and the well that courses underneath us all.

Parashat Bechukotai / May 31 Rabbi Noa Kushner The rock on the mouth of the well We cannot move this kind of stone with blame We cannot move it with force We cannot move it with power alone, it does not matter how powerful we become We cannot even move this kind of stone with demonstrating our

05/06/2024

The conversations about Israel have reached a fever pitch. I spoke on shabbat about what's at stake and where we might go from here.

Parashat Aharei Mot / May 3 Rabbi Noa Kushner וַיִּתְרֹֽצְצ֤וּ הַבָּנִים֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔הּ / The twins were struggling in her womb: Israel and Palestine there and here ?אִם־כֵּ֔ן לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה אָנֹ֑כִנֹ֑וּ / Why are we here? ...

04/22/2024

Hoping this teaching "How to Prepare to be Free" helps your seder tables tonight. With love and chag sameach from our house to yours.
..People have been confiding in me that they're afraid to have Passover seder
They're afraid of destroying friendships and family over the arguments see
Because in recent years we have all taken on a polarized, untrusting mentality
We’ve become afraid to say what we think lest we are cancelled by our own friends
This is truly where we are
And this mentality is hard to break
Maybe, they tell me, better to not have seder this year...

Parashat Metzora / Shabbat HaGadol / April 19 Rabbi Noa Kushner How to prepare to be free People have been confiding in me that they're afraid to have Passover seder They're afraid of destroying friendships and family over the arguments see Because in recent years we have all taken on a polariz

12/19/2023

This shabbat what I think the rabbis are teaching us
is that all God needs to grant us רַחֲמִים֙ / compassion
is one person who has not closed every door to every possibility
One person who is waiting to pray לְעֵת מְצֹא / in the very time when God is found
When redemption and reconciliation and peace can still be found

Parashat Miketz / December 15 Rabbi Noa Kushner לְעֵת מְצֹא / In the Time of Finding The rabbis say this phrase means a person who has not given up hope In other words, someone who prays לְעֵת מְצֹא “In a time when God can be found” Means a person who did not stop hoping for ...

12/11/2023

You see, this is not an abstract point
In our moment where war
Is not abstract but frighteningly real
We can see how easily — no matter your position on the war —
We can see how easily religion and holiness and even something like our understanding of a miracle can get mixed into what’s happening on the battlefield.

My torah from erev shabbat, the second night of hanukkah:

Parashat Vayeshev / December 8 Hanukkah 5784 Rabbi Noa Kushner וְעֵ֥ץ הַזַּ֖יִת לֹ֣א נָשָׂ֑א / Nothing on the Tree In our moment where war Is not abstract but frighteningly real We can see how easily — no matter your position on the war — We can see how easily religion ...

11/16/2023

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Turn on your jewish charm. Seriously? Now? Yes: Your kindness, your over-the-top, your irresistible, unmistakably jewish charm. These dark days you might be tempted to hide your jewish self where no one can find you. But, as our tradition says, “No one puts baby in a corner.”* Whatever your t

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