Shabbat + Lifecycles / חיי קהילה
Where heaven meets earth
Justice + Activism / צדק
Torah comes to life on the streets
Torah + Learning / תורה ולימוד
How we interpret the world
Groups + Gatherings / מפגשים
Our tables always have room
Kids + Families / משפחות וילדים
Do jewish together
high holidays 5784
Upcoming Events
Yom Kippur AM 5784
Rabbi Noa Kushner
How to Return Where You Don’t Want to Go: Aaron and the Holy of Holies
You see, Aaron was never intended to return to that fraught place all by himself
Without anything whatsoever to guard him
He was supposed to bring something
But what?
Kol Nidre 5784
Rabbi Noa Kushner
זַ֖יִת טָרָ֣ף בְּפִ֑יהָ: A Torn Olive Branch in her Mouth
The Israeli flags, a hallmark of the protests, are in full display
A sea of hundreds of people gracing the Tesla entrance, chanting “Democracy,” full throated, on behalf of Israel,
a sight I never imagined I’d see
A few of the Israeli flags graze the top of my head as I stand
And I’m reminded of the feeling of being under a huppah, a wedding canopy
Only this wedding, this covenant is with the future of Israel
Rosh Hashanah 5784
Rabbi Noa Kushner
The Snake and the Garden: לִשְׁמֹ֕ר אֶת־דֶּ֖רֶךְ עֵ֥ץ הַֽחַיִּֽים / To guard over the way of the tree of life
You see, we've followed these voices, not to mention these leaders, at great cost
And we're already paying the price —
the accumulative and dramatic breakdown of social trust
in our institutions and in each other in this country
Doesn’t really matter who started it
The garden of America is beginning to evaporate around us
You see, like Eve, we have a choice:
It’s either ingesting the venom or being in the garden
We can’t do both
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5784
Guest Rabbi Michael Lezak
Standing in the Flood
What Sarah does every hour in the Tenderloin every day is what Amir did at the Qalandia checkpoint is what my mom did for Sheldon and his sons.
When floods came, when waters rose, when trauma or danger or peril forced their way to the front. These tzaddikim mimicked the Holy One when, God-like, they stayed put and present and proximate, and simply let a love from On High pulse through their every action.
High Holiday 5784 Drashot
Parashat Shoftim / August 18
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Egypt is not on the way to T’shuvah
When we reached the shores of the sea
(Knowing our Jewish community as you do you may or may not be surprised)
We did not act as one unified coalition, rather
There were four factions
Four responses to that fraught moment
Parashat Eikev / August 4
Rabbi Noa Kushner
He Changed His Mind at 91: The Blessing
Now he simply wanted to undo what he had done, one public signature at a time.
He was still teaching that great Torah, that what we do matters. That it is never too late.
Parashat Devarim / July 21
Rabbi Noa Kushner
These are the Words
All the words you were missing for all those generations in Egypt came rushing back to you —
The descriptions and dreams and associations and conversations and unfinished sentences
A torrent of ideas and emotions all came pouring out, and your mouths began to heal
Parashat Sh’lach / June 17
Rabbi Scott Perlo — Visiting Scholar
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now. We'll spend a whole shabbat with these thinkers, like a retreat without having to pack. Check out our past scholars & past teachings here.
Parashat Sh’lach / June 16
Rabbi Scott Perlo — Visiting Scholar
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now. We'll spend a whole shabbat with these thinkers, like a retreat without having to pack. Check out our past scholars & past teachings here.
Parashat Nasso / June 2
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Close Your Eyes and Receive It
Sometimes the filter can be the conduit
Counter-intuitively, strengthening our connection
A divine game of hide and seek
“Before you even call, I will answer,” says God
Parashat B’midbari/ May 20
Rabbi Noa Kushner
What Are You Waiting For?
We walk as close to those we love as we possibly can, we carry them, and then there is a line we cannot cross
Parashat B’midbari/ May 19
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Rules For The Wilderness
There are 4 Rules of the Wilderness:
1. You Can’t Leave Until You Journey
2. You Cannot Name the Station Until You're Done With It
3. Sometimes Backwards is Forwards
4. Every Station is Essential
Parashat Behar-Bechukotai / May 13
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Can You Hear Me Now? : Walking in the Garden
Maybe Eve and Adam were hearing the sound of the pitter patter of little divine feet,
Or God’s high heels as they crunched down delicately and purposefully on the fine gravel paths of Eden
Or maybe as it says in Shir HaShirim Rabbah they heard the sound of God jumping from heaven to earth and back up again.
Parashat Emor / May 6
Peter Beinart — Visiting Scholar
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now. We'll spend a whole shabbat with these thinkers, like a retreat without having to pack. Check out upcoming scholars & past teachings here.
Dinner Conversations / May 5
Peter Beinart & Nadav Tamir
On Shabbat evening, May 5th, J Street’s Executive Director, Nadav Tamir, sat down with Peter Beinart to discuss Israel/Palestine, democracy, and us. Listen to the conversation below.
Sponsored by J Street
Parashat Emor / May 5
Peter Beinart — Visiting Scholar
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now. We'll spend a whole shabbat with these thinkers, like a retreat without having to pack. Check out upcoming scholars & past teachings here.
Parashat Kedoshim / April 29
Rabbi Noa Kushner
Take Care Of My Garden
Maybe these commands are there to teach us, precisely, that there are some things we don’t know
Why have a command for something so painfully, really embarrassingly obvious?
To teach us that being holy doesn’t always make sense
Parashat Shmini / April 14
Rabbi Noa Kushner
”Where’s Your Prophecy Now?”: Jerusalem, Democracy and Us
Do we in America even have the courage to stand, not leaving the shore for a second
To keep our eyes on what’s happening
To hold fast to a prophecy, the highest prize, even when all evidence is pointing to the contrary?
Do we have the strength to tell the truth about the severity of the situation?
Parashat Tzav / Apr 1
Rabbi Keilah Lebell — Visiting Scholar
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now. We'll spend a whole shabbat with these thinkers, like a retreat without having to pack. Check out upcoming scholars & past teachings here.
Parashat Tzav / Mar 31
Rabbi Keilah Lebell — Visiting Scholar
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now. We'll spend a whole shabbat with these thinkers, like a retreat without having to pack. Check out upcoming scholars & past teachings here.
Parashat Vayekhel–Pekudei / Mar 17
Rabbi Noa Kushner
No Such Thing as ’Too Much’
Once we escape the tyranny of measuring everything
The over extension of the metaphors of the marketplace to measure everything in our lives
We remember
There's no such thing as extra, there is no more “too much”
Parashat Ki Tisa / Mar 11
Rabbi Noa Kushner
No More Starting Over
As the kids say
Find someone who loves you the way Moses loved God
Find someone, or I don’t know, find a tradition, a community who loves that way
Where destruction is not an option
Where starting all over is no longer on the table
Parashat Tetzaveh / March 3rd
Rabbi Les Bronstein & Cantor Benjie Schiller — Visiting Scholars
We're overjoyed to welcome some of the most engaging, powerful teachers in the US and Israel. Many are long time Kitchen favorites, some newer to us but all known for their ability to connect Torah to our lives right now. We'll spend a whole shabbat with these thinkers, like a retreat without having to pack. Check out upcoming scholars & past teachings here.
Parashat Terumah / Feb 25
Rabbi Noa Kushner
The Most Dangerous of All
And actually, if I am being completely honest,
I don’t want to just access holiness with regularity or even predictability
I want to own it
What if it never returns again?
See, and here we are, you don’t have to admit it but I will:
I want to control it, even if I know I can’t
I want to bind holiness and keep it safe where I can always have it
A little golden cage for the divine bird
Shabbat Drashot
One City
Sharing Our Abundance
אַחֲרֵי־כֵ֗ן יִקָּ֤רֵא לָךְ֙ עִ֣יר הַצֶּ֔דֶק
'After that, you shall be called a City of Righteousness...'
-Isaiah 1:26
The Jewish now is right here, look around
We don’t start with, “Are you really Jewish?” but rather, “What are you willing to do? What are you interested in doing? Where might we go together?” We welcome people because this is who we are: all genders, ages, colors, sexual orientations, and backgrounds—not to mention all members of modern families of one kind or another. In other words, we think who we are and how we came together is our blessing.
What is the Kitchen?
Is this religious?
What if I don’t believe in God?
What if I’m not Jewish?
What if I’m not the praying type?
Where do I start?
Who pays for this?
What do I get when I join the Kitchen?