by Rabbi David Lyon | Sep 17, 2025 | Uncategorized
On a Monday evening, September 22nd, Erev Rosh Hashanah summons us to begin the Jewish New Year 5786. We’ll gather at Congregation Beth Israel or livestream from home. This year, we’ll approach the new year with different expectations from the past. There’s a shared...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Sep 3, 2025 | Uncategorized
In Judaism, we are known as a treasured people, a holy people, even a stiff-necked people, but we’re also called rodef shalom, a people that pursues peace. Contrary to popular opinion in the news, Jews pursue peace. Examples of it abound. Countless times Israel...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Aug 27, 2025 | Uncategorized
Two words can sum up the history of our people, “It’s complicated.” That’s it! Speaking to us before October 7th, our Israeli tour guide told us that it’s complicated. She was right then and she’s still right, today. Everybody I’ve had conversations with or read in...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Aug 20, 2025 | Uncategorized
An early morning flight and a weekend away to support my mother’s healing was not the way I planned to end my summer break, but the mitzvah was evident in the ways she responded to our time, together. Joyce is an independent person who, at age 89, still feels...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Aug 13, 2025 | Uncategorized
Last week, the CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis), URJ (Union for Reform Judaism), and the ACC (American Conference of Cantors) published a statement about Netanyahu’s plan to take control of Gaza City and beyond (read it here). Netanyahu’s final campaign to...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jul 30, 2025 | Uncategorized
Dear Beth Israel Friends, As of this writing, the tragedy of October 7, 2023, has persisted for 661 days and counting. In that time, the clergy and leadership of the congregation have asked the essential question, namely, how will our synagogue continue to respond?...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jul 23, 2025 | Uncategorized
We live in edited times. We edit our pictures and videos; we erase backgrounds and people who mar a better image; and we create outcomes that are nearly real or totally imagined. We don’t always know the difference between them. We even begin to believe the memories...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jul 16, 2025 | Uncategorized
The Prophet Micah said to the Israelites, “Remember what Balak, king of Moab, plotted against You, and how Balaam responded to him, and you will recognize the gracious acts of the Lord.” Seeing that their safe journey in the past and now in Judah could be due to God’s...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jul 2, 2025 | Uncategorized
I remember America’s bicentennial birthday on July 4, 1976. It was a year of over-the-top red, white, and blue clothes and banners, flag-themed foods and ice cream, and everyone was feeling patriotic. The bicentennial came after Nixon’s resignation and Ford’s failed...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jun 25, 2025 | Uncategorized
In Torah, even a single word can capture the attention of commentators. In this week’s portion, Korach (Numbers 16), the first verse begins, “Vayikach Korach,” “now Korach…betook himself,” or he “took”; but, due to syntax challenges, the exact meaning of the word “he...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jun 18, 2025 | Uncategorized
The prophet Amos famously said (7:14), “I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet.” None of us can foresee what will be across town, let alone in Israel or the Middle East. So let’s not get ahead of ourselves except to observe and acknowledge...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jun 11, 2025 | Uncategorized
Given the daily news, not a day goes by when we aren’t feeling hurt, angry, despondent, or unsure. Some moments sneak through that give us encouragement and hope, but they pass too quickly. The news in the headlines about antisemitism, Jew-hatred, and a global...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jun 4, 2025 | Uncategorized
Years ago we held vigils after mass shootings and rare attacks on Jews, but they happened too frequently, and then they became useless ways to assuage our pain and disbelief. What do we do now when Jews are murdered in our nation’s capital or walking down New...
by Rabbi David Lyon | May 28, 2025 | Uncategorized
The book of Numbers, called “Bemidbar,” or in the wilderness, has led us to think about the Jews as a wandering people. True, they were in the wilderness for 40 years, but they weren’t lost. They knew where they were going as long as God and Moses led them. Had they...
by Rabbi David Lyon | May 21, 2025 | Uncategorized
Freedom is an ideal we constantly strive to reach. In 1986, when he received the Nobel Peace Prize, Elie Wiesel said, “As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame....
by David Scott | May 14, 2025 | Uncategorized
The weekly Torah portion, Emor (Leviticus 21:1-24:23), describes festival holidays and the Eternal Light (Ner Tamid). One of its other important but often overlooked verses is Leviticus 23:10, “When you enter the land…” Though this verse appears elsewhere in Torah,...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Apr 30, 2025 | Uncategorized
In this week’s Torah portion, Tazria-Metzora addresses ills such as bodily emissions and skin afflictions. According to Torah, the obligation of the affected person was to make himself known to the community. He called out, “Unclean! Unclean!” (Lev. 13:45). The...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Apr 23, 2025 | Uncategorized
The words, diversity, equity, and inclusion, better known as DEI, have become a proverbial four-letter word. I know that it doesn’t have four letters, but it might as well. We’ve spent a lot of time and energy defending these letters and what they represent. Though...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Apr 21, 2025 | Uncategorized
In August 2024, I visited with Pope Francis in Rome in his residence at Santa Marta, joined by 17 Christian clergy and lay people whose interfaith community organizing in the west and southwest under the auspices of TMO (The Metropolitan Organization), a region of IAF...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Apr 9, 2025 | Uncategorized
Passover is coming. More than 550 days since October 7, 2023, and loved ones we expected to be at the table with us will not be there, again. In Israel, their names are so familiar. In America, we haven’t forgotten them, either. Since October 7th, the world has grown...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Apr 2, 2025 | Uncategorized
The book of Leviticus isn’t generally a favorite book among Bible readers. If it’s any indication, Hollywood hasn’t recreated any of its scenes like it did from Genesis and Exodus. Who can forget movies about Noah’s ark and Moses in Egypt? Seeing them are like rites...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Mar 19, 2025 | Uncategorized
On Monday, March 24, 2025, I’ll be installed as CCAR President at the annual CCAR Convention for a two-year term. Following years on the CCAR Board and as an officer, it’s a great honor to lead with CCAR’s Chief Executive, Rabbi Hara Person. The CCAR (Central...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Mar 12, 2025 | Uncategorized
Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, Ph.D., of HUC-JIR, wrote in his book, The Mask Jews Wear: The Self-Deceptions of American Jewry (1973), “The men (sic) of the Bible and the rabbis of Talmudic times asked why they were called to be prophets or why they had to suffer. They never...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Mar 6, 2025 | Uncategorized
In the Talmud, when the rabbis didn’t know how to settle the law for the community, they said, “Tzei ul’meid,” go and learn. In effect, go and see what the people are doing, and that’ll be the law. The result was “minhag hamakom,” or the custom of the place. It’s a...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Feb 26, 2025 | Uncategorized
When our hearts are moved we’re inclined to do so much. It’s just as our Torah portion opens in Exodus 25, “Tell the Israelite people to bring Me Gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart is so moved.” Torah commentaries explain that even one...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Feb 19, 2025 | Uncategorized
In Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, in Hebrew, we learn, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9). It’s not a complacent statement nor an apathetic one. King Solomon, who is said to have authored the book, identified what is true: the world is mysterious but not...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Feb 12, 2025 | Uncategorized
This week’s Torah portion is “Yitro,” or Jethro. This is the portion that includes the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20; but in Exodus 18, Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, a Midianite, offers Moses some sage and timeless advice. He saw his son-in-law sitting while all the...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jan 29, 2025 | Uncategorized
This week’s Torah portion opens with the words, “Bo el paro,” or “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them” (Exodus 10). These opening words are familiar, but less familiar is...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jan 15, 2025 | Uncategorized
Last weekend, Congregation Beth Israel hosted Rabbi Jonathan Cohen, Ph.D., as our scholar-in-residence. Just one of our multiple scholar events during the year, Rabbi Cohen, a lawyer, former dean of HUC-JIR, and former congregational rabbi, his depth and breadth of...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jan 8, 2025 | Uncategorized
When I was a child, I learned that I was afraid of heights. It came to me after an IMAX theater experience ended and my parents led us from the dark theater into the bright light, outdoors. With a pressing crowd behind us, we quickly approached three flights of stairs...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Dec 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
In JNS.org, Defense Minister Israel Katz is reported to have told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, “We are the closest to a hostage deal since the last one.” It’s not always clear to non-Israeli audiences what is meant by Israeli comments like this...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Dec 4, 2024 | Uncategorized
Recently, I spoke on a webinar for Jewish lay leaders in synagogues around the country. They are supporters of rabbis, they like their rabbis, and they appreciate the CCAR (Central Conference of American Rabbis) for helping Reform rabbis address current events and...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Nov 26, 2024 | Uncategorized
Thanksgiving is everyone’s holiday. In every family there are traditions that bring everyone to the table. Set around special place settings are all the foods, aromas, flower arrangements, and goodies that family and friends expect. The satisfying meal arouses...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Nov 13, 2024 | Uncategorized
Don’t be fooled. The attacks on Jews in Amsterdam were not spontaneous or uncalculated. They were organized and precise. In Amsterdam, WhatsApp was used to coordinate with Arab taxi drivers and antisemites throughout the city to identify and locate Israelis and other...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Nov 5, 2024 | Uncategorized
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Oct 30, 2024 | Uncategorized
Contrasts help us see differences. In this week’s Torah portion about Noah, the first verse reveals a contrast that identifies Noah as more than just the man who built an ark and saved living creatures. The Torah portion opens with these words, “Noah was a righteous...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Oct 24, 2024 | Uncategorized
This past week, the Jewish world celebrated Simchat Torah, “the joy of Torah.” It marks the renewal of the Torah reading cycle. On the holiday, we end the Torah reading with the last words of Deuteronomy (Devarim) and begin again with the words of Genesis...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Oct 9, 2024 | Uncategorized
Yom Kippur is coming this weekend on Shabbat. It’s the conclusion of the Ten Days of Repentance, but just the beginning of all our hopes that the New Year will unfold with new promises to contribute to its strength and peace. A longstanding tradition is the Yom Kippur...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Sep 25, 2024 | Uncategorized
Anticipation of the Jewish New Year also brings back memories. Without equivocation, we always wished each other Shanah Tovah, a good year, a sweet year, good health, and peace. This New Year, we’ll begin with the same good wishes between us, but with greater earnest...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Sep 11, 2024 | Uncategorized
Sometimes it hits so hard that you can’t breathe or stand up straight without shaking. The execution-style murders of six Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists was more than anyone could bear. By anyone, I don’t mean people who still use words like...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Sep 3, 2024 | Uncategorized
After a full week in Rome, Italy, I just returned on September 1st. I wouldn’t have been there except for a very special invitation. Some weeks ago, the organizers of TMO (The Metropolitan Organization), a region of IAF (Industrial Area Foundation), of which...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Aug 21, 2024 | Uncategorized
All the signs are there that school has begun. It’s not just the flashing School Zone signs reminding us to slow down for students; it’s also the heavy traffic in the morning and afternoon, and the social media posts announcing everyone’s arrival on campus and into...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Aug 14, 2024 | Uncategorized
This past week, the Jewish observance of Tisha B’Av, or 9th of Av, was held in some Jewish communities. The date recalls days of destructions in Jewish history, beginning with the ruin of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. As history records it,...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Aug 7, 2024 | Uncategorized
In Judaism, everything is paired. There’s joy and sorrow, life and death, health and sickness. These pairings provide a worldview that can never be all joy nor all despairing. That’s a good thing. It relieves us of having to long for Disneyland experiences every day,...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jul 31, 2024 | Uncategorized
My summer vacation is now part of special memories. Last June, I was mentally and physically ready for a rest and diversion from a full and meaningful year. My time away began with a week devoted to solitude to read and write. Though I love the company of family and...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jul 17, 2024 | Uncategorized
The assassination attempt on former President Trump was a horrific act in a tense political environment. It terrified the nation. It rattled our civil society. Trump survived, shaken, with a bloodied ear. Tragically, the attack took the life of a father of two...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jul 3, 2024 | Uncategorized
The American flag is waving this week. Americans are gathering with family and friends for familiar July 4th celebrations to honor hard-won independence from British rule. Our democracy was birthed from hopes, dreams, and long-fought battles to emerge into a world of...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jun 26, 2024 | Uncategorized
In this week’s Torah portion, Sh’lach-lecha, in the book of Numbers, Joshua and Caleb return from scouting out the Promised Land and report to the Israelites what they found there. Unlike other scouts from other tribes, Joshua and Caleb were realistic and hopeful. The...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jun 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
One of the most impactful Biblical passages is found in this week’s Torah portion in Numbers 12. It involves a conflict between Moses, Miriam, and Aaron. Beginning with Miriam and Aaron who speak against their brother “concerning the Cushite wife he had taken,” they...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jun 12, 2024 | Uncategorized
Four hostages rescued. Many people have noted that they were not released; rather, they were rescued. And though the lives of terrorists and complicit Palestinians were lost in the dangerous operation, it’s a risk they bear when hostages, who are still alive, are,...
