by Rabbi David Lyon | May 29, 2024 | Uncategorized
Will I turn my back on Israel? Never! The news from Rafah is bad, but the truth is worse. Immediate Past Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post, Avi Mayer, posted on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) what we are learning now to be true: “The Israeli airstrike that...
by Rabbi David Lyon | May 22, 2024 | Uncategorized
Israel will always matter to us. But it’s been difficult for family and friends to talk about Israel, lately. It was true last year when we debated judicial reform. It’s truer now when the debate is existential. Shortly after October 7th, the Jewish world drew close...
by Rabbi David Lyon | May 8, 2024 | Uncategorized
Beth Israel emails are important to read, not just because one of them is my blog. They tell important stories about the life of our congregation. In one of those emails is news of Temple members who have gone from life. Their funerals or memorial services are...
by Rabbi David Lyon | May 1, 2024 | Uncategorized
It was not supposed to happen this way. I held off for as long as I possibly could. A Mishnah teaches, “Don’t separate yourself from the community.” Only in community can we find what we need to support life and well-being that depends on healthcare, education,...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Apr 17, 2024 | Uncategorized
Dear Friends, This past weekend, the wave of firepower aimed at Israel from Iran sent Israelis to their safe rooms. The rest of us held our breath and sent texts of support. After the long night, the results were benign compared to what they could have been. We’re...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Apr 10, 2024 | Uncategorized
Young couples fall in love and plan for marriage, eventually. Along the way, they talk about being parents. Typically, they do imagine themselves as parents. Their meetings with the rabbi to prepare for the wedding and married life includes talk about their roles as...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Apr 3, 2024 | Uncategorized
On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will occur. It will be observed around the world and notably in Texas. Special glasses and other safe means to view it are being prepared. Schools are teaching important lessons about astronomy and physics. What will Judaism...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Mar 27, 2024 | Uncategorized
I don’t know anyone who enjoys being commanded. Maybe it’s customary in the military or in sports where sergeants and coaches bark (give) orders, but at home or in the workplace, being commanded can be authoritative and rude. And how about in a sacred...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Mar 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
Be Happy, it’s ADAR! It’s Purim time, and Adar is the Hebrew month when we celebrate the holiday. When the month begins, we say, “When Adar enters, joy increases!” In history, Purim was a festive holiday that provided a place in the Jewish...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Mar 6, 2024 | Uncategorized
I’m home from a profound and emotional trip to Israel. From Monday to Thursday, February 26-29, this whirlwind trip was filled with intensity and purpose. Organized by Houston Jewish Federation and led by J2 Israel Tours, it was precisely what we needed to see and do,...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Feb 21, 2024 | Uncategorized
On February 25th, I’ll board a familiar flight to Israel under unfamiliar circumstances. Rather than accompany first-timers to Israel for a life-changing experience, this trip will be mission-driven to bring support, comfort, and hope to Israeli families and friends....
by Rabbi David Lyon | Feb 14, 2024 | Uncategorized
Since October 7th, we have tuned in to news that is difficult to watch, hear, and know. War is horrible and terror is the worst, because it violates international laws of warfare. It’s all too much. Nevertheless, we have a responsibility as Jews and Jewish allies to...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jan 31, 2024 | Uncategorized
I grew up in a house where fluent Yiddish wasn’t spoken, but Yiddish words and expressions were used to say what couldn’t be said with the same intensity or cynicism in English. An odor was nothing compared to something farshtunken; a mischievous kid was one thing,...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jan 24, 2024 | Uncategorized
The Torah portion called Beshallach (Exodus 13:17ff) includes the “Song of the Sea,” in Hebrew Shirat Hayam (Exodus 15ff). It’s more than a song or poem, it’s a victory song. The Israelites sang it and Miriam led the women in dancing in tribute to God for redeeming...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jan 17, 2024 | Uncategorized
If you can pronounce it, you’ll know that the root of “diasporism” is “diaspora.” By definition, it’s any place where Jews made their homes outside of Israel. Since the chaos surrounding judicial reform in Israel, and the horrifying events and their aftermath of...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jan 10, 2024 | Uncategorized
The last verses of Torah exalt Moses: Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses whom God singled out (Deuteronomy 34:10). Moses’s stature is well-known, but his beginnings were humble. Left in a basket in the Nile, baby Moses was rescued and brought...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jan 2, 2024 | Uncategorized
In a paper calendar book, I turned the page to find the secular New Year 2024. Accidentally, I took hold of too many pages and opened to 2025. If only, right? The tragedy that began on October 7th in Israel, and the American presidential election that looms in the...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Dec 12, 2023 | Uncategorized
Chanukah is ending but not without kindling in us what we need to remember about being Jewish. Lighting the menorah began in history as an act of courage and renewal following the defeat of the Syrian Greeks by the Hasmoneans. Outnumbered, Judah Maccabee and his small...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Dec 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
No matter how it’s spelled, Chanukah is a minor Jewish holiday that means “dedication.” It’s minor, because it’s not a pilgrimage holiday that obligated Jews, in ancient times, to arrive in Jerusalem and offer sacrifices. Though a minor holiday, it has come to mean...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Nov 29, 2023 | Uncategorized
First light, Evening of December 7th Darkness is defeat and light is victory against our oppressors, persecutors, and contemporary antisemites in all their forms. “Light in the darkness” can be a meaningful metaphor, but it fails if it’s only a metaphor. Yes,...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Nov 22, 2023 | Uncategorized
After October 7th, I wrote about the fence that my Muslim neighbor and I had to fix between our houses when it broke and fell in a windstorm. It was an apt metaphor for the obvious brokenness and horror between Israel and Gaza. In a personal face-to-face conversation,...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Nov 15, 2023 | Uncategorized
Those who were able to attend the march in Washington, D.C., absorbed and digested more than they could have imagined. Throngs of people, some 290,000, plus leaders of our country with significant speeches, lifted up an historical message for our times. Perfectly...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Nov 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
That blue and white box is still a vivid image in my memory. I’m sure it is in yours, too. That blue and white box, a “pushke,” in Yiddish, symbolized a community-wide effort to engage everyone in Israel’s well-being, strength, and continuity. It had a Jewish star on...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Nov 1, 2023 | Uncategorized
Don’t drink from a fire hose. It’s not just good sense, it’s also a good metaphor. We can’t extinguish the burning fire of misinformation, lack of Jewish education, or personal unpreparedness around Israel’s crisis in one great sermon, marvelous podcast, or viral...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Oct 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
In last week’s Torah portion, Noah, we read about the flood that came after God saw that the earth was filled with “lawlessness.” In Torah, the word “lawlessness” is a single Hebrew word, “Hamas.” That’s right. In Torah, hamas caused God to bring a terrible flood in...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Oct 19, 2023 | Uncategorized
In the Middle East, there is no more room for hate and no path to peace through vengeance. Though Houston is more than 7000 miles away from Israel and Gaza, Houston is a city where 145 languages are spoken and many more than a few religions are observed and...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Oct 11, 2023 | Uncategorized
There is no justification. For the attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists there is no justification. It begins with the fact that in 2005, despite many Israelis who wanted to remain in Gaza, where they had homes, synagogues, schools, and businesses, then PM Ariel Sharon...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Oct 4, 2023 | Uncategorized
Sukkot is one of my favorite holidays. It’s part of the season called Z’man Simchateinu, the “Season of our Joy.” Sukkot is purposely joyful to follow Yom Kippur’s solemn mood. In Leviticus 23:40ff, we learn to spend time in a sukkah, take up the four species (etrog,...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Sep 13, 2023 | Uncategorized
On Rosh Hashanah, we’ll greet each other with wishes for a Happy New Year. It’s a time filled with hopeful expectations that a new beginning will be fresh and sweet. Often times, the New Year is, indeed, fresh and sweet. It’s as our rabbis taught, “Live each day as if...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Aug 30, 2023 | Uncategorized
At the end of a long day, I watched “You Are SO Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah,” the new movie starring Adam Sandler, Idina Menzel, among other greats. I settled into my chair with skepticism. Would this be another movie to lay on the pile of caricatures in Jewish life...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Aug 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
During this month of Elul, leading up to the High Holy Days, which begin on the first day of Tishrei, thus the New Year, we read from the fifth book of the Torah, in Deuteronomy. There we find Moses’s final words and instructions to the Israelites. They are about to...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Aug 16, 2023 | Uncategorized
The Hebrew month of Elul begins this week. You might be asking yourself, “Is that when the weather turns cooler?” It’s unlikely, but it is the month that precedes Tishrei, the first day of which is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year 5784. And, you know well that from...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Aug 9, 2023 | Uncategorized
“See, this day I set before you blessing and curse; blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Eternal your God…and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Eternal your God…” (Deuteronomy 11:26). Though Biblical scholars are adept at interpreting such...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Aug 2, 2023 | Uncategorized
Summertime is typically quiet, restful, and hot. For me, it was quiet because my schedule focused on family. Lisa and I traveled to see children and grandchildren in Durham, Albany, and Dallas. Air travel isn’t much fun these days, but we experienced few delays and...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jul 26, 2023 | Uncategorized
Read all about it. Headlines in Times of Israel report, “Knesset Passes ‘Reasonableness’ Law, First Part of Netanyahu’s Overhaul of Judiciary.” This news comes to some as a long-awaited improvement of the judiciary, which Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition believes...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jul 13, 2023 | Uncategorized
Judaism and technology sound like contrary ideas. Judaism is four thousand years old and technology is modern and cutting-edge. I open the Torah on Shabbat and read from a scroll inscribed by hand that takes a year to complete with a quill dipped in handmade ink. It...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jul 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
(republished by request) 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...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jun 22, 2023 | Uncategorized
On October 27, 2018, Robert Bowers entered the Tree of Life Synagogue and aimed his gun and his rage at worshipers in the sanctuary. The aftermath was shocking, gruesome, and permanent. Never again did the Jewish community there or anywhere take for granted what used...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jun 15, 2023 | 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...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Jun 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
“A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven. A time for being born, and a time for dying” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2). We only have to read through verse 2, before we need to stop, pause, and take a breath. The inevitable fate that we must...
by Rabbi David Lyon | May 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
Late May and early June are times when schools are wrapping up, graduation ceremonies are being held, and families are leaving for summer breaks. It’s also time on the Jewish calendar for the Festival holiday, Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks. It marks the 50th day...
by Rabbi David Lyon | May 11, 2023 | Uncategorized
Last week, I spoke at Shabbat services on Friday night about the public display of the Ten Commandments and other Texas Senate bills that aim to infringe on the separation of church and state. Following a very positive reaction to the message, I sent an edited version...
by Rabbi David Lyon | May 4, 2023 | 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 in many places in...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Apr 27, 2023 | Uncategorized
Apropos of the wonderful weekend we spent with Rabbi Dr. Daniel Gordis, this week’s Torah portion is Acharei Mot-Kedoshim, a double portion. In Acharei Mot, we follow up on the death of Nadav and Abihu, who perished as a result of the “eish zarah,” the alien fire they...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Apr 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
Between Passover and Shavuot, we observe Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaZikaron (Israel Memorial Day), and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day). They’re a lot of days and each one carries significance for us on our journey as Jews and Jewish...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Apr 13, 2023 | Uncategorized
During Passover and in anticipation of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, I was asked the question, “Where can hate lead us?” It’s easy to respond to the question because hate’s mission is to destroy. But rather than respond to the question as it was asked, I...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Mar 30, 2023 | Uncategorized
Complicated or not (and it is), Israel is the only democratic, western and middle eastern, ancient and modern Jewish homeland. Israel is not just a country born out of the Holocaust and the destruction of 6,000,000 lives. Israel is born out of the 2000-year-old exile...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Mar 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
(reprinted by request) This week, we begin the book of Leviticus. It’s not a favorite book among Biblical readers. If it’s any indication, Hollywood hasn’t recreated any of its scenes quite like it has from Genesis and Exodus. But, Leviticus, for all its talk about...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Mar 9, 2023 | Uncategorized
Holy things are not just ritual items or Torah scrolls and prayerbooks. Holy things are anything we consider dear to us, or set apart for special reasons. We call them “Kadosh.” A prayerbook or bible from your bar or bat mitzvah, or a photo album from the past might...
by Rabbi David Lyon | Mar 2, 2023 | Uncategorized
Late Monday night, I returned from a conference in Israel with 250 Reform Rabbis. Being in Israel is always eye-opening and inspiring no matter the circumstances on the ground. Last fall I told you that “Israel is complicated,” but it’s time to update you because...
