Shabbat shel Pesach 5776 I want to explore a topic with you that may be foreign. In fact, the topic is surprisingly foreign for a spiritual and religious community like ours. The topic is praise. How is praise a foreign concept? After all, what are we doing here tonight, celebrating the coming of Shabbat and the close of Passover, if some element of what we do together through our prayer is not praise? Praise is foreign, because something is blocking our path to it. We are wi

On Yom Kippur, three Hevreh members shared their perspectives and their stories on the Gates of T’filah (prayer), T’shuvah (Repentance), and Tzedakah (Justice). The following is the reflection on the Gates of Prayer, by Jim Shoshana Goldberg. A few days ago Rabbi Hirsch extended this invitation to participate in the afternoon Avodah Service. He wrote: This year’s theme is on the gates that we walk through in the liturgy of the High Holy Days — the gate of t’filah (prayer), th