Coronavirus – Page 3 – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

July 20, 2020

Rubik’s Cubes and Cities of Refuge

This is my D'var Torah for Parashiyot Mattot-Mas'ei, on July 18, 2020. This is a Rubik’s Cube: The Rubik’s Cube starts all jumbled up, with random colors mixed together all over each side. The goal is to get every one of the six sides to be entirely one single color. This is tricky because whenever… Continue reading

Calendar, Community Relations, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Ethics, Inclusion, Justice, Leadership, Mas’ei, Mattot, Numbers, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Torah, USA

June 22, 2020

Giants, Not Grasshoppers — Toward the Landscapes Just Ahead of Us

This is my D'var Torah from last Shabbat, June 20, Parashat Shlach L'cha. This week in the book of Numbers, there is a beautiful project that Moshe is getting impatient to launch. In a nutshell: it’s about becoming a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, in a land flowing with milk and honey. Moshe… Continue reading

B’midbar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Justice, Leadership, Numbers, Sh’lach L’cha, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA

June 2, 2020

Post 3 After George Floyd’s Killing

Post #3 – okay, more snide and angry, and still not the heart of the matter. If we set the presidential bar at cynical, even I could do a better job than President Trump did last night: 1. Call George Floyd’s killing murder. Sure, that might make it impossible for there to be a fair… Continue reading

Community Relations, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Election, Freedom, Inclusion, Justice, Leadership, Rabbi, Tikkun Olam, Tzedek, USA

June 2, 2020

Post 2 After George Floyd’s Killing

I tried to begin writing today not from anger but from reflection and even hope. Very hard to do right now. Anger comes more naturally. I write snide very well – you should see the first drafts, and there's a snider post to come. This is a preface to links below about a president with… Continue reading

Community Relations, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Election, Feminism, Freedom, High Holidays, History, Inclusion, Jewish Education, Justice, Leadership, Rosh Hashanah, Teshuvah, Tikkun Olam, Tzedek, USA

May 13, 2020

Thoughts About High Holy Days From the Perspective of May 2020

I posted this piece last week — it's exactly the same in both The Times of Israel and ejewishphilanthropy.com. Continue reading

Calendar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, High Holidays, Holidays, Jewish Education, Prayer, Rosh Hashanah, Temple Beth Abraham, Yamim Noraim, Yom Kippur

April 8, 2020

Three Virtual Seder Leaders

If you don't have a Seder leader, don't want to join a remote Seder, and still want to have all or part of a Seder while at home, here are three Web links that provide you a pre-recorded leader. 1. Rabbi JonI recorded myself leading you through a Seder. Just click here whenever you are ready. It's… Continue reading

Calendar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Holidays, Jewish Education, Pesach, Prayer, Spirituality, Study

April 7, 2020

My Passover Haggadah Commentary for This Year

I just finished these thoughts. They are a combination of commentaries, reflection pieces, discussion prompts related to the Seder text, the Pesach Haggadah. You could read them before or after a Seder, or even during. Wishing everyone a good festival and a Zissen (sweet) Pesach. https://images.shulcloud.com/544/uploads/Pesach/sederthoughts5780.pdf Continue reading

April 5, 2020

Passover 5780 — The Four Children of COVID-19

This is a version of the D'var Torah I gave on Saturday, April 4, 2020, Shabbat Hagadol 5780. According to the Passover Haggadah: “The Torah speaks of four children. One is wise, one is wicked, one is simple, and one does not know to ask. Echad chacham, v’echad rasha, v’echad tam, v’echad she-aino yod’ea lish’ol.” I… Continue reading

Calendar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Ethics, Freedom, Health Care, Holidays, Jewish Education, Justice, Leadership, Pesach, Spirituality, Study, Theology, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA

March 24, 2020

Temporary Work Available: Valves for Respirators

Passing along from Rev. Tanya Rasmussen: Parker-Hannifin is a company in Hollis, NH, that makes valves that go into the life-saving medical ventilator machines that are in such short supply. They are in need of temps right now. If you know someone that is looking to work 1st or 2nd shift on the production floor… Continue reading

Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Health Care, USA