Over the last many months, with the help of our own Lee Slobotkin, I have been filming short videos to create an online library of Jewish information. These videos are designed to bring Jewish life to YOU in a new way. The videos range in content, touching on holidays, Jewish values and contemporary issues. They are meant to be very accessible and easily shared with friends. We will be adding to the library over the next many months. If there’s a topic that you think COULD be included, but isn’t yet, just let me know.

These videos also speak to the idea that we must always strive to learn and to challenge our thinking. They are there to do just that, as they are likewise an invitation to lean in closer to your Jewish heritage and relationship with our synagogue family.

Friends, I am writing these words during uncertain times. We watched with joy as three female hostages were returned home on Sunday. To see them reunite with family was so totally remarkable. We can only pray that the ceasefire holds and more hostages come back to Israel and back to some kind of normalcy. What they have endured is beyond description. Perhaps this is the dawning of a new day in Israel and for the people of Gaza. It has been such a painful and heartbreaking fifteen months for both peoples. It’s true: Our fate is intertwined as our past is intertwined. I pray that we, the children of Abraham, will one day learn how to live side-by-side, hopefully in our lifetime.

There’s not only uncertainty in the Middle East, however. Let’s also say this clearly: The new administration now taking control of the White House gives many of us pause. While there are those in our community who celebrate President Trump’s return to power, there are many who greet the coming four years with trepidation and worry. The executive orders the President signed on day one of his term indicate a drastic shift away from many of the causes we hold dear, such as protecting those who are transgender and safeguarding our natural world. I pray that he will use his office for bettering America for all of us and drawing us together, aiding the less fortunate and lifting up the downtrodden. I pray that he will be the ally to Israel that he has promised.

And yet I also know this to be true: Our work as Jews has little to do with who occupies the Oval Office. Tikkun Olam, giving tzedakah, drawing wisdom from our ancient texts, marking our festivals and holidays, teaching Torah, taking part in reflective prayer… none of this hinges on which party won an election or who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We are Jews. We take part in Jewish acts. We lend our hand to the cause of freedom and justice in every age, in every place, when it’s comfortable and when it isn’t. It’s what our parents did and theirs.

In uncertain times, I am thankful for the embrace and safety offered by our congregational community. We are diverse but we are united in our commitment to a Judaism that is bright and bold, hopeful and compassionate. In uncertain times all the more, we need each other. May we go from strength to strength and experience widespread peace very soon.