Rabbi Heller's Blog

Delivered At Congregation B'nai Torah, 2nd Day Rosh Hashanah 5782 September 8, 2021 Watch Video

When my oldest son was around 2 years old, we had a tough time getting him to put on his shoes and his coat. He wasn’t complaining about being shod. In fact, he was really leaning into the task....Read more...

Parashat Nitzavim provides a unique vision of a unified Jewish life. Moses describes a moment of unprecedented common experience, which brings together every segment of society, from leaders, elders and officials to the menial laborers, citizens and foreigners, men and women, young and old, to enter into a shared covenant. Today, those experiences where an entire community joins for common focus are increasingly rare. In our own...Read more...

  I’m delighted to have returned from a busy and refreshing mini-Sabbatical.  I feel a bit like Moses coming down the mountain after his 40 days.  He was ready to present tablets of inspiration, but was greeted with a Golden Calf.  No idols were installed in the sanctuary in my absence,...Read more...

Transitions in life, and transitions in leadership can be challenges or blessings, depending on how we prepare. Do we leave clear instructions, designate successors and ensure a legacy.  Our Torah portion describes two losses suffered by the Israelites in the desert, one of which leads to appropriate grief, followed by healing and continuity, the other to disaster.  As I prepare for a (temporary) transition in congregational...Read more...

This weekend, we are delighted to be sharing a simcha with extended family, friends and community, as we celebrate Ezra’s Bar Mitzvah.  Family have already started to arrive from out of town.   We are full of gratitude, not just for the simcha, but for the uniqueness of the timing. We had originally requested a date in April, closer to his birthday, but when dates were assigned several years ago we did not get our first...Read more...

We are a more than halfway to Shavuot!  Four weeks ago, we were dining on Matzah, and three weeks from now we’ll be up late studying to celebrate receiving the Torah. Our Torah portion, Emor, describes these seven weeks as a time of watchful counting, building excitement and bringing offerings of gratitude as the harvest got underway. However, in later times, the Omer became known as a mournful period- people avoided shaving, musical...Read more...

We expect the Bible to give us “thou shalts,”  “begats,” and the occasional “Hallelujah.”  And then there is the Song of Songs: 

“Give me of the kisses of your mouth, For your love is more delightful than wine.”

“His mouth is delicious, all of him is delightful, such is my beloved” 

“Ah, you are beautiful, my darling, Ah, you are fair. Your eyes are like doves behind your...Read more...

This week’s Torah portion begins with the commandment of the half shekel.  Each Israelite is to donate precisely that amount of silver to the construction of the Tabernacle, no more, no less.  The commandment serves two purposes.  The first is to provide the funding for this holy project, the second is to ensure an accurate count of the people.  This mitzvah offers important insights for some...Read more...

February is Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month, and our congregation is hosting a range of activities to participate. This Saturday night at 6:15 PM, our study will focus on Jewish text surrounding abilities and inclusion, and at 7:00 PM, Virtual and Drive-In Special Friends Havdalah will bring together different segments of our community. On February 16, we will be...Read more...

This week, we begin a new chapter in the life of our state and our country. Many have commented eloquently on the crisis we have weathered and the challenges still ahead. The Joint statement of the Conservative movement reflects some important thoughts on the state of our country. This Friday night as part of our...Read more...

Hanukkah, the festival of lights, begins tonight. Each night of the holiday, we are offering outdoor and virtual opportunities to make B’nai Torah part of the celebration. You will see the details below, but as we enter this unusual Hanukkah, I want to offer a thought about the miracle of the Hanukkah oil and our own personal refueling.

One of the first times Rabbi K was a passenger in my minivan, he was traumatized that...Read more...

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of maintaining connections under strain. Once a relationship has broken, how is it mended? This week’s portion, Chayee Sarah, is the first of three examples in Genesis of reconciliation of estranged brothers. In some cases, the animosity has a clear backstory in which both sides have agency. In the case of Jacob and Esau, it is the negotiation over...Read more...

Sometimes you have to go outside to re-enter. Sukkot, and the next few weeks of our synagogue’s activities, are both signs of that. The High Holidays are meant to be an emotionally intense time. The focus is very much on introspection, and our physical selves are subordinated to the spiritual task at hand. How can we think about eating when our very souls are at stake? It...Read more...

Today we begin Rosh Hodesh Elul. It’s a time of introspection and confession. I have a confession to make: I’m kind of over COVID-19. I’d really like to be done worrying about epidemiology and IT infrastructure. I want to get back to singing together in the sanctuary and eating bagels in the social hall, as...Read more...

This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Hazon - the Sabbath of visions of doom. Over 2600 years ago, and then again 1950 years ago, the threat of exile and destruction hung over the Jewish people. That threat came to pass on the 9th of Av (Tisha B’av)  which is observed next Wednesday night and Thursday. Indeed, the cycles of despair often returned to their low point at this season of the year, with inquisitions, crusades and...Read more...

This weeks’ Torah portion is full of rebellion and revolt, and offers some lessons for us on the power of great and bad leadership. Korach and his followers challenged Moses’s political leadership and the religious leadership of his brother Aaron. There were three stages of God’s response, and each phase had an immediate effect and left a permanent sign. The first two stages established that the rebels were...Read more...

What day is it? Blursday? About fleven o' clock? A lot of people tell me that they have had trouble keeping track of time in the past few months. The hours, the days, the months run together. Shavuot is unique among Jewish holidays that it, too, is slightly lost in time.

The Torah tells us that the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai on the first day of the month of Sivan and went through three days of...Read more...

We are a more than halfway from Passover to Shavuot! Four weeks ago, we were dining on Matzah, and three weeks from now, we’ll be up late studying (probably via Zoom) and eating cheesecake (hopefully not via zoom) to celebrate receiving the Torah. Our Torah portion, Emor, describes these seven weeks as a time of watchful counting, building excitement and bringing offerings of gratitude as the harvest got underway. However, in...Read more...

Last week, we finished reading the book of Exodus, which began with the familiar stories of liberation and revelation, highlighted the laws of a functional society, and concluded with a focus on construction of a physical structure, the tabernacle. This week, we begin reading the book of Leviticus, Vayikra, the most opaque of the books of the Torah. Normally, when Leviticus rolls around, rabbis scramble to find something else to...Read more...

This coming Sunday-Tuesday, over 18,000 pro-Israel activists, including over 30 from Congregation B’nai Torah, will be gathering in Washington, D.C. for the AIPAC Policy Conference. This year, there has been a lot of commotion about which politicians will be attending. Israel’s election is taking place on Monday, March 2, and absentee balloting is strictly limited, so many Israelis who would ordinarily attend will be...Read more...

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of preparing to offer the Paschal sacrifice and then leave Egypt, the Israelites are called upon to engage in an odd ritual of “teaming up.” Bringing a lamb an as offering would not have been unusual for the ancient Israelites. That is what Moses had been asking Pharaoh for permission to do all along. Sprinkling the blood on the doorpost as a sign would have been daring, but not inexplicable. By doing...Read more...

Hanukkah is supposed to be a time of rising light, but this year, it was marked by rising violence against Jews in the New York area, with over 10 incidents culminating in a knife attack at a Hanukkah candle lighting in Monsey, NY. Our Atlanta Jewish community is coming together Monday night, January 6 to show support an an event of solidarity. To participate, please visit https://jewishatlanta.org/communityevent/.

The...Read more...

This weekend, we mark the confluence of Parashat Toldot and Thanksgiving. There is actually a thread of connection between the Torah portion and the festival on the secular calendar. For many of us, Thanksgiving is about gathering with family or friends for a festive meal. In the portion this week, we see two times where shared food is entangled with complex family dynamics. First, Esau trades his birthright for a...Read more...

This weekend, as we begin reading the Torah anew, our Jewish community is marking a year since the attack on the Tree of Life congregation in Pittsburgh. We will be marking #ShowUpForShabbat at our 6:30 PM service on Friday night with words of memorial, and we have invited members of the larger community to join us. There are many other observances throughout our community, including a gathering at 2:00 PM at Shearith...Read more...

This Shabbat, the holiest shabbat of the year, we read Parashat Vayelekh, which includes one of the final commandment in the Torah, called Hakhel. God commands the Israelites to have a special gathering every seven years to bring together men, women, children, Jews and non-Jews alike to hear the Torah being read. One thing that is remarkable about the commandment is that it includes not only adults and older children, but even the youngest...Read more...