The HaNefesh Blog
A Small Light Can Be a Great Torch for Justice
If you have not seen it yet, this is a must watch: A Small Light. This is the story of Miep Gies, the woman responsible for hiding Anne Frank and her family, the Van Pels and Dr. Pfeffer. The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most read books about the Holocaust having...
A Note of Thanks
I heard that someone called HaNefesh the Gay/Lesbian congregation in Orange County. This comment was said to others in hopes of being hurtful to HaNefesh. I want to say to this person, thank you! Thank you for recognizing that yes, HaNefesh is a community that...
Night 7 Song Lyrics 2022
Hamentaschen Latke Debate – Rabbi Joe Black Come answer the question: Which one is the best one? Latke(s)? Hamentaschen? Hamentaschen latke debate I like latkes - lots and lots of latkes. They're golden brown. I gobble 'em down With sour cream and apple sauce. A...
We’re Far From Irrelevant!
It’s Thursday and you all know what that means…Thursday night football! The 49ers are playing the Seahawks tonight and Jodi is wearing her 49er gear in preparation. So far, it has brought the team luck and it means we make sure to do laundry before each game! Imagine...
HaNefesh Olive Oil Tasting
Check out all the great products from Pasolivo in Paso RoblesThey do have deals going right now for purchasing olive oil and other products, so check out the page soon! Recipes! There is so much you can do with olive oil, including baking. Here is the link to the...
FAQ for Prop 30 from RAC-CA
RAC-CA-Prop-30-Q-ADownload
Our Choices Are For the Future
Yom Kippur Morning Sermon/5783-2022 Rabbi Heidi Cohen How do our choices affect us? And do they only affect us? It’s like the pebble that, when tossed into the water, creates ripples for as far as it can go. Today, we read in our Torah: You stand this day, all of...
Integrity in 2022
Kol Nidrei Sermon - 5783/2022 Rabbi Heidi Cohen Recently, we’ve been wrestling with the state of our world, our country, our community? Why is it people are behaving the way they do? Over the past few years we saw the best in people as they supported each other at the...
Reproductive Rights Is A Jewish Value
Rosh Hashanah Sermon - 5783/2022 Rabbi Heidi Cohen On June 24 we were all shocked yet not surprised. 50 years after Roe v Wade was passed, after the Supreme Court ruled that a woman had the right to her own reproductive care, it was taken away. It was as if the rug...
What is Freedom? Especially Today
Judaism exists because of freedom. Our text says often, ‘remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Eternal freed you.’ Shortly after our leaving Egypt and being free, we were given the responsibility of Torah and the 613 commandments. Our Jewish journey began...
Protecting Our Children Does Not Mean Silencing Them
We would like to think that we live in a progressive times. We include our pronouns on our zoom names and signatures to emails. We respect and celebrate every person’s gender identity. We know that every family is unique and there is no one size/gender fits all. We...
Invest in HaNefesh at the End of 2021
Checks can be sent to: HaNefesh15333 Culver Dr.Suite 340-2AIrvine, CA 92604HaNefesh is about building Jewish life without "Building Funds." Our concrete and mortar are the strong relationships that bind our community together, the learning that provides a foundation...
We Are So Excited to be a Part of Something Big
This week, in our Torah portion, Vayishlach, we continue to see Jacob’s transformation. He comes from a family who shares a covenant with God. His mother made sure that he was destined to continue that line by helping him get the birthright blessing from his father,...
Halloween…Festival of Chocolate…Jews, Golems and Ghosts
This Sunday is Halloween, a night of dressing up in costumes, knocking on stranger's doors and asking for candy! What kid doesn't like this day! And parents even enjoy the trick or treating with the caveat to our youth, 'oh, you don't need all of that candy' and then...
You found the Afikoman! Click play for a message from Rabbi Heidi and Jodi
https://youtu.be/mKrLBH4jw5k
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...