November 2026
Letter from the Rabbi
Dear Friends!
October has been a full and exciting month at Temple Israel, as we have begun to settle into new routines for the year and welcomed new faces into our community. We were delighted to welcome our two rabbinical student interns, Shaindel Spitzer-Tilchin and Idan Erez, for their first Shabbat visits. Both were received so warmly by our community, and each shared something of their hearts and their Torah with us through prayer and teaching. I look forward to the many opportunities we’ll have to learn and grow together this year.
We’ve also begun to establish the rhythm of our new Cheder program, with Jewish learning, Torah, and values on Thursday afternoons, alongside Hebrew learning on Tuesdays in the hour before our weekly minyan. I’m grateful to everyone who has helped us get this new structure off the ground, especially our teachers and parent volunteers.
With the launch of our Hebrew program, I temporarily put my Tuesday adult learning class on hiatus. I’m excited to resume this in November! Each Tuesday, we’ll continue our exploration of the 613 mitzvot, studying selections of commandments from the Torah and considering how they speak to our contemporary lives. As in our earlier Torah in Our Times learning, we’ll seek to bring the wisdom of our tradition into conversation with the questions and events of the world around us.
In addition to these new rhythms, there are several special opportunities to gather and learn together this month:
- Lunch and Learn: Thursday, November 12 at Noon – inspired by our successful Sukkot Lunch and Learn we will gather again to connect and explore the weekly Parsha.
- Minyan Shira: Sunday morning, November 15 at 9:15am we will experiment with a special singing prayer service in partnership with Sheindl Spitzer-Tilchin, before the TI-TC Adult Education program.
- Interfaith Thanksgiving Service: Sunday, November 15, at 3:00 p.m. at Temple Concord, where I will be representing Temple Israel with words about gratitude in Jewish tradition.
Looking ahead, our first weekend of December will bring a particularly special celebration: Shabbat Hanukkah! We’ll gather for another communal Shabbat dinner, with the participation of our Student Rabbi Idan, and celebrate the beginning of Hanukkah together. As we light our hanukkiot and enter the winter season, I hope this will be a joyful opportunity to come together, share a meal, and bring a little more light into the world.
Finally, as we enter November, I want to acknowledge that this season of elections can be stressful. Political differences can feel especially close to home when they emerge among family members, friends, and neighbors with whom we share so much else. I want to offer a word of chizuk, encouragement, to all of us as we navigate these conversations.
At the same time, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to offer a word of hoda’ah, gratitude. We are extraordinarily fortunate to live in an era in which Jews, in the United States, in Israel, and in many places around the world, have the opportunity to participate in choosing our own leaders and shaping the societies in which we live. This is a blessing that generations before us could scarcely have imagined. With that blessing comes the responsibility of learning to disagree well.
Our tradition has a beautiful concept for this: machloket l’shem shamayim — disagreement for the sake of Heaven. The Talmud celebrates disagreements that are pursued not for the sake of winning or diminishing another person, but for the sake of truth and the betterment of our world. May we approach our differences with humility, curiosity, and generosity, remembering that even when we disagree about the path forward, we share a responsibility for the world we are building together.
Wishing you and your families a meaningful November, a joyful Thanksgiving, and a season filled with learning, connection, and light.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Micah R. Friedman
הרב מיכה שמחה פרידמן
