Repro Shabbat Featured Reflection
02/05/2025 09:24:19 PM
So often, political conversations lose sight of what abortion really is: healthcare. Abortion, or the termination of a pregnancy, is the treatment for an ectopic pregnancy. It is the same treatment for a miscarriage that the body won’t release. Without abortion as an option, the pregnant person will die. The discussion of abortion should be in the context of healthcare.
A few years ago, my oldest daughter, Lucy,...Read more...
Finding Connection: Rediscovering Community in a Time of Loss
12/18/2024 01:27:58 PM
As Hanukkah approaches, we reflect on the power of light to bring warmth and connection, even during the darkest times. In this spirit, we’re sharing this heartfelt reflection from long-time TBT member Jeff Pearl to illuminate the enduring bonds of our community. We hope it inspires you to reflect on the light and meaning TBT brings to your life.
First off, I appreciate...Read more...
Words to Guide Your Post-Election Processing
11/06/2024 02:54:05 PM
A selection of prayers to guide you, where ever this may find you.
A Prayer For Righteous Anger, excerpted from Ordinary Blessings by Meta Herrick Carlson p.64
Can you give it good purpose
beyond your own need to be right?
Then rage for the sake of
what can still be, with an impulse to
move toward the ones
you would reject in favor of
the...Read more...
From the Social Action Committee: 2024-2025 Legislative Issues to Consider
10/31/2024 12:02:09 PM
Hopelink (a non-profit agency providing programs to promote healthy individuals and families as a way to exit poverty, and a frequent partner with TBT) supports voting NO on the following initiatives. These ballot initiatives seek to dismantle key revenue sources for Washington state which fund critical programs in early childhood education, healthcare, and transportation.
Initiative # 2109 – This measure would...Read more...
Week 4: To Whom Do You Turn? Elul 5784/2024
09/25/2024 10:24:32 AM
Each week during the month of Elul, we will offer a short text and a prompt or two for you to use for personal reflection. We will connect around these prompts during Shabbat services throughout Elul, and invite you to share your reflections in person or online by filling out this form.
“I was raised to care about social justice and to believe that problems existed, that change was possible, and that we all had to do our part to...Read more...
Week 3: To Whom Do You Turn? Elul 5784/2024
09/19/2024 11:02:43 AM
At the very end of his life (and “career,” if you can call leading the Israelites through the desert for forty years a career?) Moses announces his pending death, just as the Israelites are to complete their journey across the Jordan river and into the Land God Has Given Them. As he passes leadership on to Joshua, he says to Joshua: “Hazak v’ematz - be strong and courageous!” (Deuteronomy 31:7) This short blessing of sorts...Read more...
Week 2: To Whom Do You Turn? Elul 5784/2024
09/11/2024 11:18:05 AM
Each week during the month of Elul, we will offer a short text and a prompt or two for you to use for personal reflection. We will connect around these prompts during Shabbat services throughout Elul, and invite you to share your reflections in person or online.
In the Jerusalem Talmud (Sotah 3:4, 19a) we read: “Who is a pious fool? A person who sees a ripe fig and says ‘I will give it to the first person I...Read more...
Week 1: To Whom Do You Turn? Elul 5784/2024
09/04/2024 03:26:21 PM
The Hebrew month of Elul, which began Tuesday evening and takes us through to Rosh Hashanah, offers us the opportunity to reflect and process this past year as we prepare to enter the Hebrew year 5785. This year, we invite you to join us on a journey of turning.
“Just as water brings us face to face, so too does the heart bring us person to person.” This quote from Proverbs 27:19 suggests that when we turn...Read more...
Welcoming Our New SECC Director!
08/14/2024 02:35:16 PM
We are pleased to announce the hiring of Lisa Loomis as the inaugural Solomike Early Childhood Center (SECC) Director.
Lisa has more than 30 years of business experience, especially in management and human resources. She started and ran a...Read more...
Lessons on Leadership: Star Wars & Korach
07/03/2024 12:38:55 PM
My kids are going through a Star Wars phase. There are many drawings of Yoda around our house and Jedi lightsaber training abounds. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this, but when we finally sat down to watch Star Wars for the first time this week, we decided to start with Episode I: The Phantom Menace (if you are appalled by this decision, my filmmaker husband agrees with you). The kids loved every second of the movie and while...Read more...
A Goodbye Message From Rabbi Nemitoff
05/31/2024 03:13:07 PM
It’s time to say goodbye…
This is my last blog message for our weekly e-newsletter. It has been a joy and privilege to serve as TBT’s (interim) senior rabbi this year. I hope you will join me on Friday, June 14, so I might have the opportunity to thank each of you in person.
However, for this final message, I would like to share what I presented at our annual meeting, regarding the life of a congregation. My hope is that...Read more...
A Message from Rabbi Nemitoff
04/17/2024 08:25:24 AM
“April showers bring May flowers…”
I am sure that all of us are ready for the showers to eventually end, giving way to a glorious spring and awesome summer.
When we consider the environment’s “life-cycle” and its rhythmic pattern – blossoming, growth, shrinking, and dormancy – we know that these seasons are inevitable. Yet, we are often anxious for one season to end and another to...Read more...
An Exciting Update About Our Solomike Early Childhood Center
04/03/2024 10:14:50 AM
Greetings TBT Family,
I’m reaching out to share an exciting update on our Solomike Early Childhood Center (SECC).
As you know, in February we successfully reached our $1,500,000 fundraising goal, enabling us to move forward with this once-in-a-generation opportunity.
At the Board of Directors meeting on March 27th, project leaders Elliot Paull and Brent Carson presented a construction budget consistent with...Read more...
An Update From Our TBT Sisterhood Board
03/27/2024 08:46:30 AM
When you think of Sisterhood do you think of the people who bake cookies for the Onegs? And do you think of the women who run the temple Judaica Shop? Do you also think of leaders of TBT? And of those who advocate for a more just and compassionate world for all people – issues such as diversity education, reproductive justice, climate justice, pay equity, and more?
Those are just some of the things that...Read more...
Bearing Witness to All That Was & All That Could Be
03/13/2024 09:53:48 AM
If I’m being honest, there are parts of the Torah that seem to drag on FOR-EV-ER. This week is one of those moments for me. We’ve reached the final portion in the book of Exodus, Parshat P’kudei, and we’re talking about….building the Tabernacle! I usually groan and think “Still?! What more is there to say?”
For more than a third of Exodus, we’ve been reading detailed instructions about what...Read more...
