Kol hatchalot kashot/All beginnings are difficult.
This classic Hebrew saying has come into my mind many times during my first year with Mishkon. The pandemic has hammered much of what is normal about synagogue and Jewish life: gathering in large numbers in enclosed spaces,...Read more...
Our big news this winter is that Mishkon has been awarded a $184,000 state nonprofit security grant. The timing couldn’t be better. We have applied several times before but were never chosen, and each of those times, the maximum that organizations could apply for was either...Read more...
The graph below shows the amount that was donated to Mishkon in the fiscal year July 2020-June 2021. The line on the graph is composed of dots representing each...Read more...
During the past two COVID pandemic years, I spent a lot of time on Facebook, posting updates for Mishkon and checking on my personal friends’ posts as well as sharing my own. The posts ran the gamut from serious to silly and, at times, informative, I hope. It was a means to stay in touch,...Read more...
We have been so blessed at The Preschool at Mishkon to have started the calendar year by expanding the class! With more children, the teachers have been able to start building a larger community where families feel welcome and committed to being a part of Mishkon Tephilo.
Now,...Read more...
Let me start with a rather grim picture. Over the years, dozens of unhoused denizens of Venice have camped overnight on the portico at the top of Mishkon’s steps. Indeed, often two parties at a time have lodged there, one at each...Read more...
“Licorice Fern” was written when I was writer-in-residence at Bloedel Nature Reserve, Bainbridge Island, Washington, August 2017. There were terrible fires just to the north on Vancouver Island then.
Licorice...Read more...
We are in a place personally and professionally where we need to reach for innovative solutions. Beyond the global pandemic and social-distancing guidelines, we are seeing a change in the face of Judaism. What do we look for in our community? What can we give? What are our shared...Read more...
Besides the saying “You can’t see the forest for the trees,” there should also be a saying “You can’t see the trees for the forest.”
In the first instance, your focus is so much on the trees that it stops you from seeing the forest....Read more...
