Mishkan Blog
The Year of the Good Apology
Kol Nidre: The Year of the Good Apology By: Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann I’m sorry to tell you this, but just by being here, by fasting, by listening to me talk, by striking our chests at the litany of sins for which we are all in one way or another guilty…it’s not like that...
read moreThe Blast of Your Little Voice
Rosh HaShannah: The Blast of Your Little Voice By: Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann We learn from the parts of the story we focus on. We learn from the parts of the story we tell over and over again. – Hannah Gadsby Both of the stories we read this morning feature the stories...
read moreGod May Speak, But We Sing
Rosh Hashanah 5779: P’sukei D’Zimra Kavana By: Rabbi Jeff Stombaugh I come from a very musical family. My great uncle, his brother my grandfather, their cousin, all of their children and even me and my sister -- and that’s only my mom’s side of the family. Dad also...
read moreWho shall live, and who shall die?
Yom Kippur 5779: Unatanah Tokef By: Rabbi Jeff Stombaugh This year when I started looking at the liturgy of Unatanah Tokef to speak to you now, I found myself unexpectedly desensitized to the question: “Who shall live, and who shall die?” Usually, when the time comes...
read moreIt’s Always Worse at Night
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5779: Kavanah for Hash-ki-veinu By: Rabbi Jeff Stombaugh My Zayda was a doctor and in his wit and wisdom coined a few phrases in our family, one being: “It’s always worse at night.” This was the refrain that evolved in response to our modern-haunts:...
read moreThe Power of Proximity
Yom Kippur 5779: The Power of Proximity By: R’ Lauren Henderson The haftarah we’re about to read was written for a people trying to find their way home. In 539 BCE, the emperor Cyrus exiled the Jewish people from Babylonia to Persia, and then, two years later, had a...
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