Living the dream...

Dear Mother Emanuel June 19, 2015 ~ 3 Tamuz 5775 Rabbi Jen Gubitz Temple Shir Tikva, Wayland, MA A letter of condolence to Mother Emanuel, the name by which Charleston’s Emanual African Methodist Episcopal Church is lovingly referred:   Dear Mother Emanual, we are so profoundly saddened for your loss. We are so profoundly saddened for your loss es . For thousands of years, in Jewish tradition, upon hearing of a death, we recite these words - Baruch Da’ayan Ha’emet, Blessed is the True Judge. And we tear Kriyah - we tear, rip, rend our clothing to expose our hearts. We expose our hearts breaking for you and, dare I say, with you. Baruch Dayan Ha’Emet, Blessed is the True Judge. Our hearts break for and with you, dear Mother Emanuel. But why, and how could we bless God when our hearts break, why and how could we bless God when another’s heart has ceased beating? We bless God because dear Mother Emanuel - Emanuel OR Im Anu El. You have known this truth, Mother Em...

Parashiyot Achrei Mot (hyphen) Kedoshim Rabbi Jen Gubitz May 1, 2015 ~ 13 Iyyar 5775 Temple Shir Tikva It was an image out of a utopian movie. Children seated in organized rows. Some dressed in traditional African garments. A vast array of what you could see: skin tones, hair color, height - and, of course, a vast array of what you could not see: religion, ability, disability, personality, and socio economics.  Children all singing together: “ Jambo , Jambo, Jambo, sana, jambo. Jambo, jambo, jambo watato, jambo. ” This was a 1974 song by Ella Jenkins using basic Swahili that meant: “Hello, hello, hello, everybody, hello” sung as part of the yearly celebration focused each year on a different part of the world - this time Africa. The year before that we dressed in red, white and green and did traditional dances from Mexico. And the year after that, wandering through the halls in kimonos, we practiced the sacred art of a Japanese tea ceremony and the origami folding of...

And here's a link to my Kol Nidre Sermon from Temple Shir Tikva, Yom Kippur 5775 Welcome to the Rummage Soul!

Since I'm unable to insert my sermon with proper citations in this setting - check it out on Temple Shir Tikva's website.  Shana tovah!  Jen Erev Rosh Hashanaha Sermon 5775 - Rabbi Jen Gubitz

Shabbat Shuva: Return to Sender September 6, 2013 ~ 3 Tishrei 5774 Rabbi Jen Gubitz Turning the key, with a creak the mailbox opened.  Thumbing through the pile she found another packet from AdSense with unusable coupons unless you plan to redo your house every month; a charitable foundation’s solicitation with more return address labels; another’s solicitation that was an exact replica of the form email they’d sent her 10 times that week; an excise tax bill from the town; and an envelope so dog eared and tattered it looked like it had traveled through decades. And in big bold sharpie-black letters across the front: Return to Sender, Address Unknown. You can probably already predict this extended metaphor: for we are in that period of Jewish time when the postal service to the divine needs to add Sundays to its delivery schedule, needs to hire extra elves (wrong holiday), needs to hire extra messengers (perhaps angels), to support all the influx of pieces arriving in t...

There shall be no needy... Parashat Re’eh August 2, 2013 ~ 26 Av 5773 Rabbi Jen Gubitz We ran bags of winter coats down broadway, hung them on the racks, turned our backs, and within 10 minutes they were gone. It was freezing in New York City that winter. Filenes Basement, may its memory be a blessing, was going out of business. The flagship store in Union Square had rows and rows of racks and racks stocked with discounted winter wear: coats, hats, scarves, gloves. We had 45 minutes, a huge store credit to spend, and the HUC Soup Kitchen ’s clothing rack awaiting our purchase a mere 10 blocks away. As I marched around that winter in my tundra-looks-like-a-sleeping-bag- down winter coat, multiple options for hat and scarf to suit my daily outfit or mood, warm gloves, usually a hot cup of coffee in tow - I knew that the winter wear we were purchasing was not as insulated, not as aesthetically pleasing, not as comfortable, not as nice - and simply not as warm - as...