we must do better
07/25/2024 08:46:09 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
I had the honor and privilege to participate in a panel with my good friend Pastor Eric Manning last week. The event was the first ever 2024 National Summit on Mass Violence Victims & Survivors. It was hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Law School, and sponsored by the National Mass Violence Center (NMVC), the Office of Victims of Crime (OVC) and the National Center for Victims of Crime...Read more...
if you have nothing good to say...
07/18/2024 11:20:05 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
I’ve remarked before about the staggeringly high level of uncivil discourse in our country coming from both elected officials and those seeking office. Just when you think it has reached its nadir, they go even lower. Is it the inability to recognize that words have consequences, or the utter disregard for any impact? Television ads speaking ill of one’s primary opponent have now morphed into attacks upon...Read more...
where's the love?
07/11/2024 10:52:56 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
First permit me to begin with a definition. I do not think that defining Judaism as a religion is sufficient, as it is too limiting. We have a language (more than one if you include Yiddish and Ladino), a culture, arts, literature, music, foods and a country. To borrow from Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan, we are a religious civilization, and one of the longest, constant ones in the history of...Read more...
all we need is love
07/04/2024 09:30:57 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
Most sermons only reach the ears of the proverbial choir, as those not in the choir either don’t attend or don’t want to hear it. I’ve been privileged to serve as honorary national co-chair of Black Women for Positive Change. We held a program a few years ago entitled “It Starts at the Kitchen Table”, the essence being that the attitudes that we have as adults are formed by our...Read more...
reflections
06/27/2024 08:57:41 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
As a child, my summers were spent at the Jersey Shore (natives never call it the beach). You learned how to swim, navigate waves, handle rip tides, and body surf. I’ll never forget the day my parents bought me a boogie board. I was in heaven! I was thinking of that as the Groundbreaking approached. As people asked me what I expected from the day, I opened myself to my childhood boogie...Read more...
joy
06/20/2024 10:56:13 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
Our sages of old teach us in Pirkei Avot 4:1: “Ben Zoma taught: Who is rich? Those who are happy with their portion.” The word for happy might be familiar to most of you – Sameach – from which we derive the word Simcha, a joyous event. On first reading, the answer is certainly not what we might expect. When we speak of someone who is rich, our first thoughts turn to the individual’s net worth. But then,...Read more...
there's no place like home
06/14/2024 10:40:18 AM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
We’ve been homeless for nearly six years, and I know that it has not been easy. Despite how warm and welcoming both Rodef Shalom and Calvary Episcopal Church have been, these are temporary quarters. Yes, we know our way around the buildings; the clergy, staff and congregants have been so kind, and we have collaborated many times, but we are not in our home, and to some that might be...Read more...
thank you god.
05/29/2024 06:28:16 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
Hopefully the allergy season will end shortly, as the mild winter has made for an incredible outburst of pollen. We did our usual spring planting, primarily herbs, replacing those that did not survive the winter, and a small assortment of flowers. It really doesn’t matter what flowers we buy, as the deer will eat them, even showing the temerity to climb our front steps to nibble on plants...Read more...
The Cantors Assembly
05/23/2024 12:59:27 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
Professional development is a crucial component of being a good professional. You certainly would want your accountant to be knowledgeable in the current IRS regulations as opposed to
an audit and sizable fine. You would want your doctor to be familiar with the newest techniques and practices as well as medicines. You would want your attorney familiar with the newest changes to the law. How does that apply to Cantors?
First you...Read more...
memory
05/15/2024 06:43:45 PM
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers
| Author | |
| Date Added | |
| Automatically create summary | |
| Summary |
Is there a best way to remember someone? Are there best practices that have proven most effective? I ponder that every time we hold Yizkor, the memorial service for our departed. Then I attended our community’s annual Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day. I would not expect every Jewish community to hold such a commemoration, but the sizable Israeli community in Pittsburgh, our close...Read more...
Sat, July 27 2024
21 Tammuz 5784
Join Our Mailing List
Contact Us