put your hope in god
09/23/2020 07:19:58 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
There are a number of interesting additions to the liturgy during the Ten Days of Penitence, which began on Rosh Hashanah and conclude with Yom Kippur. Amongst them is the interesting custom of adding a particular Psalm before the formal start of the morning service, which is marked by the recitation of the Barchu. We are instructed to turn to a page usually towards the back of the prayer...Read more...
A Rabbi on the Roof
09/15/2020 05:50:09 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
Shalom. I a Jeffrey Myers, the Rabbi of the Tree of Life in Pittsburgh. You might wonder what I am doing standing on the roof of my synagogue? Is this a modern version of a Rabbi on the Roof? Well, yes and no.
I’m here to shout from the rooftops that the Tree of Life lives. Neither 10.27 nor a pandemic has stopped us from our mission to bring Judaism to all who seek it. While we have not been meeting in our beloved building since 10.27, we never closed. We have continued providing religious services, education for all age groups, life observances and cultural and social programming, despite the challenges that we have faced.
Soon we will be announcing important news about our rebuilding campaign, but for now, I stand here to remind all who seek us that we are still here.
"Etz Chayim Hi", we are a Tree of Life to all who seek us, and all who support us are enriched. If you are looking for a place to pray these holidays, we warmly welcome you. Just go to our website, www.treeoflifepgh.org/highholidays, and there you can find information to be our guests for our virtual services.
May the coming year of 5781 be one of good health and joy to your family, and may we soon be able to gather safely in person to celebrate doing Jewish together.
L’shana Tova Tikatevu v’Techatemu. May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.
Video credit - Sandy Riemer
Are you brave enough?
09/09/2020 12:54:30 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
Sometimes the answer to a question is a simple one; that you might not know where to find it is a different matter. If I were to ask you “What does God require of you?”, that is most likely the start of either a lengthy conversation, or, perhaps, one not so lengthy. The prophet Micah, who lived in the ancient land of Israel between roughly 740-670 BCE, spelled it out succinctly, when he...Read more...
A Message from the President
09/08/2020 09:41:38 AM
Carol Sikov Gross
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
We are about to enter the High Holiday season of 2020. This year will be different from our last several years in many ways.
We will not be at the corner of Wilkins and Shady in our building. We will not be at the Calvary Episcopal Church, which was so welcoming to us in 2019. We will not even be together in the same place celebrating the New Year. We will have virtual services, each of us in our own homes on our computers or...Read more...
i have hope
09/02/2020 12:24:01 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
Some wonder at that fact that I maintain hope, citing the conditions that surround us as cause to lose hope. I can certainly understand that question, as well as the desire for so many to find sources of hope, or examples that provide hope. They are all around us, but we are not attuned to them.
I recently had the privilege to...Read more...
the chalk board of your life
08/26/2020 01:06:23 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
During this month of Elul, the final month of the Jewish calendar, we are called upon to reflect upon our year in a period of introspection. I ponder the big questions: Why am I here? What is my purpose? The conversation that I have with God gets me to think about how I have fared during the year, and what I might do to become a better version of myself.
Read more...
where has all the good gone?
08/19/2020 11:31:22 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
I try to stay well informed, seeking out multiple sources for my daily news. I have learned that process can be time consuming, as a piece of unconfirmed news turns out not to be news, but a craftily worded polemic by a person or persons with an agenda. Alas, there are many who get their news from social media alone, and believe all that they read without any work confirming the information,...Read more...
a treadmill or a stair master?
08/13/2020 05:33:58 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
Do you feel like you have been on a treadmill since the middle of March, adding up the miles but seemingly not getting anywhere? Do you feel like George Jetson, whom at the end of the introduction to the show is literally sucked under the apparatus by his dog Astro, doomed to continually revolve around it?
Truth be told, prior to the...Read more...
You transformed my mourning into dancing
08/05/2020 09:00:52 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
I’m sitting amid Tropical Storm Isaias as the power went out at 11:15AM, yet my unbridled joy has not lessened, for this past Sunday I performed the wedding of my daughter. As a Rabbi and Hazzan, it is the ultimate privilege and joy to officiate at the wedding of your child. I’m surprised that I held it together as well as I did. When I saw my daughter walk out for the first time, I almost lost it.
Since 10.27 I have...Read more...
Thu, October 1 2020
13 Tishrei 5781
Join Our Mailing List
Contact Us