Every Shabbat morning, just before we open the Holy Ark and take out the Torah scrolls, we sing: “Source of compassion, favor Zion with Your goodness; build the walls of Jerusalem.” Throughout Jewish history, the walls of Jerusalem have represented the barometer of Jewish wellbeing. It’s the fence around the beating heart of our people. When [...]
For a long time, one of the top items on my bucket list was to climb down into the Grand Canyon. It was love of first sight 12 years ago, when I first visited, and again three years ago. On those visits, I was able to see the Canyon from the South Rim and then from [...]
One of the things I love most about traveling in the United States is going over big bridges. Bridges help us pass over otherwise arduous obstacles, a hand of God lifting us over on wings of eagles. Passing over a bridge is a journey into the unknown, a journey of hope and clarity, from the clouds [...]
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, the members of CTI, for your continued support of the successful contract extension process. As we begin another chapter on our journey, it is nice to look back at the achievements of the past year, as we traversed the rough waters of Covid. Normally, [...]
There are times in life when we need to make a decision. Do we want to move forward or not? Do we seek revenge or do we seek forgiveness. Do we let our anger hold us back or do we turn it into fuel for building. Every January, the Greenport Ecumenical Ministries (GEM) holds a service [...]
How does one start to summarize a year like 2020? A year in which so much was beyond our control. A year of re-learning, re-inventing, re-calculating, re-living. At the end of every year, Google publishes the most searched words of the last 12 months. It wouldn’t surprise anyone to find out that this year, the [...]
Nine years ago, we started a journey together. When I consider that time, a few important thoughts come to mind. Relationships are a motivating force for me. I was privileged to know many in the previous generation — the Levin brothers, Stanley Rubin, Aaron Novick, Sy Brittman, and so many more — and now the [...]
A couple of weeks ago, a man handed my friend Father Roy a fire hose nozzle. “Please return it to its rightful owners for me,” he said. The man, who was a firefighter on Sept. 11, 2001, had been called to Ground Zero a few days after the disaster for search and rescue duty. In [...]
The two days of Rosh Hashanah and the single day of Yom Kippur are three days in our lives filled with awe. More than any others, those days awaken a sense that a biological clock is ticking; it’s time to reexamine. Would one day be enough, or perhaps two? The Bible is replete with three-day [...]
The period of seven weeks, from Tisha B’Av to Rosh Hashanah, is the time allotted to us to rebuild and start anew. This year is different. Even the rock bottom of Tisha B’Av is still wobbling and not stable enough on which to build. Perhaps this is the meaning of the opening of Psalm 24: [...]
