The HaNefesh Blog
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The Megillah as Seen Today
Judaism has over 3000 years worth of text to immerse ourselves in. And we often ask, is any of it still relevant? The answer is, yes! It is relevant because we do the work to ask the important question, what does this text tell me about my life today or the world?...
The Mountain Over Our Heads
Have you ever felt like someone was holding a mountain over your head wanting you to choose something? This was exactly how one midrash suggests the Israelites felt when the Torah was being presented to them. This week, we read from Parashat Yitro which includes...
Who will plant for the future?
This week brings together two observances. Today is Tu BiShvat, the 15th of the month of Shvat during which we celebrate the birthday or the new year of the trees. This festival reminds us to never take for granted this beautiful earth that is ours to care for and...
Tu BiShvat Seder January 26 at 6:30pm
Join Sheila and Rhea for a fun Tu BiShvat seder celebrating Mother Earth, the trees and all that comes from them. Click here to log in and have your foods ready to enjoy. White and Red Wine/Grape Juice: You will need enough for four cups.Fruit that is hard on the...
A Blessing for a Vaccine
The time has come for us to receive our Covid-19 Vaccine! (Well, when our number is called) And with every moment, there is an opportunity for blessing. Below are a number of blessings to choose from. Find one that calls to you or even adapt and create your own....
Hope and Healing in the Days Ahead
Yesterday, we were in disbelief by what we saw take place in the halls of our US Capitol. Domestic Terrorists who breached the sacred halls of our government. This was something we've seen on tv before, but we never imagined that we would see it here, on our own...
L’Shana Tovah!
September 17, 2020 | 28 Elul 5780 What an amazing opportunity we have this year to be with our families during our high holy day services! This year is unique in so many ways and invites many opportunities for us to include our children in services. In the past...
HaNefesh – September 10, 2020 / 21 Elul 5780
Selichot are a group of prayers and poems said in preparation for and during the High Holy Days, specifically Yom Kippur. These are words asking for forgiveness and preparing us to move forward with new goals and contemplation of how we live and behave. The service of...
HaNefesh – September 3, 2020/ 14 Elul 5780
We began our quarantine on March 13. Many of us thought this might only be a couple of weeks, maybe a month until we could be back in person together. No one thought it would be 5 let alone 6 months or more. The freeways were eerily quiet and our computer screens were...
HaNefesh – 7 Elul 5780
HaNefesh: Breathing New Life into the High Holy Days Enjoy this inspirational video featuring Jewish thought leader Naomi Ackerman. Naomi Ackerman, the founder and executive director of The Advot Project is an experienced actress, consultant, and...
August 13, 2020 | 23 Av 5780
High Holy Days 2020/5781 are going to be like nothing we have ever experienced. We are going to be “virtual” and with our new community, HaNefesh. These High Holy Days, we each bring our heart and soul forward to create our new year. We are blending together...
HaNefesh Issue #8 (It’s our Brit Milah Issue)
This is our 8th issue of the HaNefesh and Jew By You Newsletters. It’s awesome to see how far we’ve come in the past two months. We have celebrated Shabbat, enjoyed Torah study, and sang out during Havdalah. We have mourned with the Fidel family and wish Mazal Tov to...
Do Not Separate Yourself from Your Community
In Pirkei Avot, Hillel teaches us, “Do not separate yourself from the community.” Yet here we are in the middle of a pandemic where we are being told to separate ourselves. How do we separate ourselves without really separating ourselves? How do we...
Have a Community? Good to Have a Brit!
A group of people with shared values and vision come together to create a community. This is HaNefesh. We are a group of people with the shared values of creating an open and safe Jewish community where all can come, explore and express their Judaism without fear of...
Lettuce Know
July 9, 2020 | 17 Tamuz 5780know.... I had a great conversation this week about how to be a part of HaNefesh community. (quick grammar note: Ha=The, Nefesh=Soul. If I say, THE HaNefesh Community, I am saying, the THE soul community and that just sounds odd to my...
Yes, AND…
Yes, AND… We’ve talked about how you can support HaNefesh financially, now let’s talk about how you and HaNefesh can work together to build our Jewish community. I’ve been asked if we are going to have different committees and opportunities for HaNefesh. My answer has...
Come Be A Disrupter with HaNefesh
Come Be A Disrupter With HaNefesh! Amy Asin taught us at the URJ Biennial in December that if we only seek to improve or transform what synagogues do, then they will not exist. If we want Judaism to exist tomorrow, we have to disrupt the system as we know it....