'tis the season
12/08/2022 11:32:09 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
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I cannot avoid returning to a very powerful question that my dear friend, Pastor Eric Manning of Mother Emanuel AME Church of Charleston, SC, asked rather rhetorically. We were filming the 2018 Christmas edition of New Day at CNN. In between taping, he asked: Why do we Christians utter “peace on earth, good will towards men” only during this time of year? Shouldn’t that be a...Read more...
let there be light
12/01/2022 08:52:45 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
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With the lessening of daylight hours every day in the Northern Hemisphere, it seemed perfectly reasonable to establish festivals during the darkest days of winter that celebrated light. Darkness led to fear and stranger things that went bump in the night. Unexplained phenomena occurred more frequently in the absence of light. Festivals that focus on light seemed a perfect antidote. While it is...Read more...
an attitude of gratitude
11/22/2022 05:15:58 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
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I’ve always enjoyed Thanksgiving, a uniquely American holiday that has traces of a religious origin, yet is infused with ever-evolving American traditions. But as time has transpired, the origins based upon giving thanks have birthed too much commercialism. I recognize that there are so many helpers in our country who cannot be home to celebrate Thanksgiving, and I am grateful for them...Read more...
Now What?
11/17/2022 03:19:34 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
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The final vote tabulations continue, absentee ballots are still being processed, and there will be a runoff in Georgia for one Senate seat. What does seem clear to me is that dysfunction will reign in our nation’s capital, as obstructionism will be the catch-phrase for the next two years. Despite what I have regularly preached over these past four years, that we all have so much more in common than not, and that we must work...Read more...
show for shul
11/10/2022 08:59:19 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
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This has indeed been quite a week. Election Day, the commemoration of Kristallnacht, and Veteran’s Day all together. Truth be told, it has been quite a month. Electioneering and ugly campaigning have left a bad taste in the mouth of many. Most of it has risen to the level of H speech, which promotes and encourages all citizens to speak and behave in the same manner as the advertisements. But...Read more...
they're back
11/03/2022 10:47:28 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
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Some of you might remember the 1980’s movie franchise “Poltergeist”. At one point in the movie, the young daughter who is seated on the floor in front of the television turns to the audience and says, “They’re back”. Some might think the same thing when it comes to antisemites, except that in this case, they never left. What has changed is the rate of speed in which messages are...Read more...
How do we Remember?
10/27/2022 07:42:49 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
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Today marks four years since the massacre at Tree of Life. What is the right way to remember? Is there a right way? While this was an unprecedented act of antisemitism on American soil, sadly it was just another horrific date in Jewish history. But within the 4,000 year history of my people there is a rich tradition of how we respond. That has been the source of our response in Pittsburgh. It is unusual for the Jewish...Read more...
a season for everything
10/18/2022 08:46:12 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
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“To everything (turn, turn, turn), there is a season (turn, turn, turn), and a time to every purpose, under heaven”. So reads the lyrics from the opening stanza of “Turn! Turn! Turn!” released by The Byrds in 1965. What made this song so moving perhaps was the fact that it is based upon Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes, which we read in synagogue this past Shabbat. This set of fourteen...Read more...
the divine artist
10/13/2022 09:35:56 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
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I sat in my sukkah the first two days of Sukkot, grateful for the blessing of some of the most perfect weather I could hope for on this festival. I have learned from Yinzers[1] that Pittsburgh has two seasons, Winter and Summer, or as one person corrected me, Winter and Construction, although there are those that claim that it is Football and Summer. When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I...Read more...
The Most important day of the year
10/06/2022 09:28:41 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
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When asked about the most important day of the year, most Jews will probably answer “Yom Kippur”. Let’s examine for a moment what Yom Kippur is all about. It began on Rosh Hashanah with an intense ten-day period of reflection called in Hebrew Aseret Y’mei Teshuvah, Ten Days of Teshuvah. It is during these ten days that we are to seek out those we have wronged or may have wronged, and...Read more...
Fri, December 9 2022
15 Kislev 5783
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