Shana tova!!

Shana tova!!  Happy 5774!!

I hope everyone who observed had awesome Days Of Awe. I did, including giving the dvar (sermon) at Congregation Am Tikva’s Kol Nidre service. As for many years, CAT had a joint Healing Service with our home Temple Sinai on Yom Kippur, and TS’ Rabbi Andy Vogel gave a mini dvar based on a Jewish teaching. This year’s, which I had encountered a few times before, but without the punchline:

“Every person should have in his/her two pockets pieces of paper with these written on them:

In one pocket: ‘For my sake was the world created’ (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:4).
In the other pocket: ‘I am dust and ashes’ (Genesis 18:27).

At certain times and places, you should pull out the appropriate piece of paper.

But know that most people make this mistake: They take out the wrong piece of paper at the wrong time!”

Rabbi Simcha Bunem of Przysucha (1765 - 1827)
Itturei Torah, volume 1, page 145

Huffington Post's "Most Inspiring LGBT Religious Leaders"

I'm #69 (ha) on the Huffington Post's list of Most Inspiring LGBT Religious Leaders, now at 91 and counting. It's still not nearly as diverse as it should or could be, and the current diversity took a lot of doing, and we still need a show of trans faith leaders, and so on. But it's something. And if you too want it to be something else, I encourage you to use the "Contribute to this story" buttons etc. underneath it.