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To Be a Jew Today: A Blessing for a Broken World
In a fearful world, Judaism still calls us to bring blessing into brokenness. Rabbi Paul Kipnes asks: What does it mean to be a Jew today?
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
Oct 55 min read
From Tohu VaVohu to Tikvah
In the beginning— before beginnings had breath— there was tohu vavohu, not just chaos, but collapse. Not just void, but the violence of...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
Apr 62 min read
Finding the Holy in the Everyday: Lessons from Sand Dollars and Nature’s Wonders
“Wow! God was in this place, and I did not know it.” So declared our biblical ancestor Jacob as he awoke from a dream. Once a deceiver...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
Feb 93 min read
Thanksgiving: Don’t Let Political Disruptions Ruin Your Dinner
“Rabbi, help! Thanksgiving’s approaching and we have relatives whose positions differ from my own—on what is happening between Israel and...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 5, 20244 min read
A Mantra for When Life is Full of Stress
How wonderful to gather together for a wonderful start of Jewish New Year 5784, abound with simchas and blessings, with hopes and dreams....
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
Apr 30, 20239 min read
When the World Seems Hopeless
Opening the ark on Rosh Hashana morning last week were Lynn Klinenberg, her daughter Susan Glick and her daughter-in-law Ellen...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
Apr 30, 20237 min read
Sermon: That Time My Wife Was Spit on… In Jerusalem… By a Jew
Also known as:Rejecting Tribalism, Embracing Discomfort
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 1, 20221 min read
Condemning Kanye/Ye’s Antisemitism (and all the other Hatred too)
Kanye West, who prefers to be called Ye, released a series of antisemitic tirades over the past weeks. Styling himself as speaking the...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 1, 20223 min read
Rabbi, Do You Have a Faith That Gets You Through?
During Kol Nidre, we began a three-part conversation about God. (View it in theKol Nidre service at OramiLIVE.com ). In Part One, which I...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 9, 20216 min read
Parenting: The Challenging of Letting Go (spoken word poetry)
Lech l’cha ! Get moving. Your future is ahead. Become your destiny. Get going. (“Leave us behind,” it seems, Remained unsaid.) Torah...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 2, 20214 min read
A Psalm for Cities on Fire
A Psalm for our cities on fire A flame with the fires of fear With anger burning ‘bout brazen brutality: From a kneed neck Floyd’s breath...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 10, 20201 min read
COVID-Kavod CONNECTION: Healing the Social Isolation of a Viral Death
COVID-19 could kill us, but it shouldn’t also bring shame upon us or our infected loved ones. And it won’t. Unless we play into the...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 10, 20205 min read
Secrets of Sukkot
Assembled and organized by Rabbi Paul Kipnes with the CCAR Facebook Group Full Body Experience One fulfills a mitzvah just by entering...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 5, 20195 min read
It’s Been Weeks Since I Wrote ‘bout My Dad
It’s been weeks since I wrote ‘bout my dad They’ve been the weeks that I’ve just pushed on through Doing work, living life, passing time...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 5, 20191 min read
Seth Front on L’dor Vador: HUC-JIR Interns Positively Influence My Daughter
In a speech at Hebrew Union-College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Or Ami congregant Seth Front kvells about the positive impact that...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 5, 20194 min read
Don’t Wait: Lessons from My Father-in-Law Murray November
I am filled with overflowing love and appreciation for the kindness that this community has showered upon my wife Michelle and me and our...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 5, 20199 min read
Fires, Shootings, Unfenced Roofs, and Uncovered Pits: Lessons from Torah in the Face of Increasing Danger
When I was in college, during the study week before finals, you would find me either in the computer room writing papers, or in the game...
Rabbi Paul Kipnes
May 5, 201911 min read
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