Today is February 23, 2025 -

Congregation Sha'arey Israel

A Conservative Jewish Congregation serving the spiritual needs of the Middle Georgia Jewish community since 1904

611 First Street, Macon, GA 31201
Phone: (478) 745-4571
Email: secretary@csimacon.org

A Word of Torah from the Rabbi

Indifference

  • Posted on February 4, 2022
  • Comments Off on Indifference

As you read these words, I’d like you to consider two current news items about books. 1 – Sales of the anti-Semitic forgery called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion — are selling quite briskly, which is another way of saying: lots of people continue to read this poison. 2 – As you must Continue Reading »

Turn of the Wheel

  • Posted on January 5, 2022
  • Comments Off on Turn of the Wheel

As I share these words I’d like to express my gratitude for family and friends whose love and kindness is our shelter from the storm. In my ears I hear an echo of torah from my Buddhist teachers who speak about the ten thousand joys and sorrows, moments on each of our journeys — here Continue Reading »

Lights in the Window – Assorted Bits of Nostalgia and Whatnot to Ponder during this wonderful Festival

  • Posted on December 4, 2021
  • Comments Off on Lights in the Window – Assorted Bits of Nostalgia and Whatnot to Ponder during this wonderful Festival

Hanukkah (work the spelling out amongst yourselves, people) will always have a special place in my heart because I was born on the closing day of the festival (back in 1958). Until last year’s (covid) Shabbat of Hanukkah, Hillel Kaplan (who shared the same bar mitzvah haftarah with me) chanted Roni v’Simchi, the haftarah from Continue Reading »

What is Kehillah? What is Communal Prayer?

  • Posted on November 3, 2021
  • Comments Off on What is Kehillah? What is Communal Prayer?

These seem like basic questions, but covid and zoom have added some complexity to these considerations. This past Shabbat, I found myself on zoom from a hotel room near Dulles International. I was in town to officiate a Sunday night wedding, and some Shabbat plans with a host family fell through as that family tested Continue Reading »

After the Holidays

  • Posted on October 5, 2021
  • Comments Off on After the Holidays

There’s a Hebrew phrase ‘acharay hachagim אחרי החגים which resonates with Jewish professionals the world over — let’s say there’s a conversation unfolding during the summer and the question is about when a certain project or meeting can be scheduled — the answer might well be: acharay hachagim, after the holidays — because Tishrei is Continue Reading »

Jewels of Elul

  • Posted on September 1, 2021
  • Comments Off on Jewels of Elul

The series called Jewels of Elul has been around for quite a while, maybe 20 years. As the title suggests, these daily bits come out each day of Elul, the final month of the Jewish year. The one I’m sharing (below) caught my eye due to its musical connection, and the writer’s insights resonate with Continue Reading »

Summertime Come and Gone, My Oh My!

  • Posted on August 4, 2021
  • Comments Off on Summertime Come and Gone, My Oh My!

School is starting up, and the dog days of summer are here. The High Holy days (too early this season!) follow on the heels of Labor Day Weekend. And amidst all the normal, unexceptional benchmarks, there’s the elusive and disruptive (and dangerous) reality of covid. As I write these words (August 2), there are in-person Continue Reading »

Before we were so rudely interrupted…

  • Posted on June 4, 2021
  • Comments Off on Before we were so rudely interrupted…

Hello hello hello! Happy June & July! As the Grateful Dead sing: “Summer’s here,and the time is right for dancing in the street!” OK, I have to back up a minute —the falling covid mortality numbers and the rising vaccination rates (Hallelujah!) are certainly a cause for celebration. It’s also true that there’s so much Continue Reading »

Growing into Change Together

  • Posted on May 5, 2021
  • Comments Off on Growing into Change Together

Some recent glances at headlines bluntly remind me that, as a species, human beings have a painfully long road ahead … Immediately following a headline talking about an imminent Disney World opening was a headline describing a catastrophe of biblical proportions crushing India. And right on the heels of the guilty verdict for George Floyd’s Continue Reading »

Taking a Measure

  • Posted on April 4, 2021
  • Comments Off on Taking a Measure

Jewishly speaking, we’re in the thick of doing the numbers. As I write these words, we’re heading into the finale of Passover. The Haggadah provided us with the wonderful who Knows One Song — the numbers are powerful shorthand for core ideas that we pass along. A six-digit figure that morphs along at blazing speed Continue Reading »