She remembered sitting in Yom Kippur services when she was little.  She remembered the sound of the shofar at the end of neilah  when all the adults would rush out to eat. And she remembered the sound of the haftarah— the lilting, warning, mournful sound of the prophet Isaiah saying: K’ra v’garon! Al Tachshoch! “Cry from the depth— says God. Don’t hold back, lift up your voice like the shofar!”[1] The first time was the time she came home from kindergarten, downtrodden. “The

I want to begin with a story from folksinger Dar Williams’ book, “What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician’s Guide to Rebuilding America’s Communities One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, and Open Mike-Night at a Time.” You start with a hill. You say to yourself, That hill, off the side of the high school, would be perfect for sledding. I know someone who could mow it with his riding mower. You call that guy and ask. He says, “Sure.” … The snow falls, and the plow guy come

Since August, communities across the Caribbean, Mexico, and the United States have been confronted with several major natural disasters and communal tragedies. Each of these has brought loss of life and broken hearts. When challenges confront us, we as a community of faith and conscience also give back. Many in our own Hevreh community have asked how we as a community can support the local communities affected by the hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and mass-shootings. Below i

Delivered on Rosh Hashanah Morning, 5776 In the center of ancient Jerusalem, along the southern edge of the Temple Mount there were a series of sacred steps. You can still visit these steps. This is the Davidson Archeological Center, now. These stone steps would bring you up to the plaza of the Temple itself. The ancient Jewish pilgrim took these final steps of aliyah, singing Shirei HaMaalot, Songs of Ascent, which we still have, included in the Book of Psalms. Kohanim and L

At the end of a long day, there is no greater joy than sitting down on the living room couch, grabbing the remote control, and clicking over to HGTV, tuning into the latest episode of House Hunters. House Hunters is an incredible show that has been on air since 1999. Now if the classic House Hunters is not available, one can always watch House Hunters International, House Hunters Renovation, or even Tiny House Hunters. The premise of the show is this: someone—an individual, a

This week on the Religious Roundtable, Rabbi Neil Hirsch talks with Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman. They discuss the Southern Berkshire Community Hevra Kedisha. The Religious Roundtable is hosted by WSBS (94.1 FM) and the South County Clergy Association. #community #death #dying #spirituality #transitions #interfaith

Parashat Bamidbar 5776 This Shabbat, we begin a new book of Torah, Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers. We call it Numbers out of its Latin rendering, Numeri, which was taken from the Greek name Arithmoi, “chosen in recognition of the extensive statistical material that opens this book” (Plaut). We call this book Numbers because it opens with a census: “On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, the Eternal One spoke to Mos

This past Shabbat, we premiered From Strength to Strength: Hevreh at 40. This film tells the story of our community over the first 40 years of its life. Over 60 hours of oral history footage was taken, and that now lives in our congregational archives. We owe thanks to everyone who took part in telling Hevreh’s story, to Carol Beyer and Marion Adler who have headed up our archives project, to Diane Pearlman and Laura Gratz of the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative who pro