Blogroll | Congregation Darchei Noam

Last year, after the High Holy Days, I spoke with one of the members of our community who mentioned to me that, upon entering the sanctuary for the holidays, she noticed how much older everyone around looked. “Age,” if we are fortunate, is the price we pay for a long life. The alternative, I am often reminded, is not particularly welcomed.

So, what does our tradition say about getting old? Does it have an opinion or wisdom to...Read more...

Why is the shofar such an important part of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? How can something as simple as the horn of a ram bring all of the Jewish people together once a year? The shofar is not only an instrument, but an item that has a lot of symbolism associated with it.

Shanah Tovah. There are three main themes of the musaf, which teaches us the meaning of Rosh Hashanah. The three main...Read more...

One of the three major themes of Rosh Hashanah is Malchuyot. It proclaims God as sovereign over the world. He is the creator with absolute power and a source of everything. During the service we reaffirm this belief.

The words on Malchuyot from our Mahzor may roll off your tongue easily. To someone like me, who is...Read more...

On Sunday, July 8, the Downtown Mishpocha group, with the participation of the East Mishpocha group, held our annual picnic in High Park. Already in the unrolling of the days, the impact is fading but the fact remains strong: of the several annual picnics we’ve had this one stands out as extraordinary.

Alan Meisner booked a lovely location. Just far enough from the main road to be comfortable and close enough to be convenient. It...Read more...

In less than 4 years we will celebrate our 50th anniversary and we hope we will will also celebrate retiring our mortgage. We have indeed come a long way, but we have never strayed too far from our roots as a struggling, but intimate, and relevant chavurah. I wrote the following more than 10 years ago:

Although I live in Calgary and get to Darchei Noam only a few times a year, especially on the High Holy Days, my...Read more...

My early memories of Darchei Noam are bound with the sense of intimacy within the new congregation. Most of the ‎members had young children, and a majority of those had their roots in other communities in Canada and the United ‎States. In Canada, Winnipeg, Montreal, and the east coast come to mind, and we were also blessed with members from ‎the USA. People formed social friendships that were more like the relationships within extended...Read more...

“It was in those dogs to care too much and try too hard—

-from Alistair MacLeod’s novel, No Great Mischief

Today’s Parsha has an interesting focus. It begins with the sacrifices offered on the eighth day of the inauguration of the Mishkan:

“Speak to B’nai Yisrael and tell them to take unblemished animals: a goat for a sin offering, and a yearling calf and a lamb for a burnt offering, and a bull and a ram...Read more...

An uplifting and heartwarming experiential program filled with stories, music, dance, special foods and wisdom took place at Darchei Noam on February 7, 2018.

For the 3rd year in a row the Interfaith Committee of Darchei Noam and the Intercultural Dialogue Institute worked together to produce an outstanding program as part of World...Read more...

Good shabbes!

Today we open the second Book of Moses and read Parasha Shemot – the story of a baby boy whose parents, fearing his certain death, launched him in a tiny vessel to a far-off land in the hope of safety and survival. This boy, a stranger in a strange land, living a dual identity, would grow to be one of the most powerful people on Earth, fighting for truth and...Read more...

What makes somebody an extraordinary friend? Most will probably respond by saying that a wonderful friend is someone who understands you – somebody you can trust and, above all, somebody who is willing to make time for you. There is no extraordinary friendship without the gift of time. That is one of the messages of Genesis. Our beloved narrative of Avraham standing up for injustice leaves us in awe of his courage and boldness. But what...Read more...

Any talk about my Jewish journey begins with one simple – but somehow very complex – statement: I am a Jew by choice. 

The usual response to that statement – among Jews and non-Jews – is “why did you become a Jew?”.  Or sometimes “why WOULD you become a Jew?” which I take as a slightly different question.  So – when I was invited to talk about my “Jewish journey” I knew I would have to reframe...Read more...

Good morning. Shabbat Shalom. I am honoured to have been chosen to be the Social Justice Scholar-in-Residence for this new year, 5778. Over the past many years, I’ve had multiple opportunities to connect with the Darchei Noam community. Each time has been positive and enriching and I look forward to the year ahead of connecting in this new way.

My first time at Darchei Noam was as the Assistant Coordinator of the Shinshinim Program...Read more...

A year ago on Rosh Hashana, I offered a sermon based on three Jewish teachings about Satan. In Jewish tradition, Satan is the persecuting prosecutor. He is the one who places the record of our accumulated transgressions before God on these days of reckoning.

In the interests of equal time, this year I want to share three Jewish teachings about the Messiah, the mythical character who...Read more...

We are about to participate in a mitzvah – the sounding of the shofar. But, before we do, I would like to talk about the last of the 613 mitzvot, the obligation for every Jew to write a Torah scroll, and about the concept of “Hiddur Mitzvah”, the “beautification of a mitzvah”. 

Take a moment to look at the magnificent panels of Torah that surround us. This is Hiddur mitzvah....Read more...

I grew up at Darchei Noam. I attended Shabbat services, Hebrew School (the very first classes of which were held in my family's basement!) and had my Bat Mitzvah and later my aufruf at Darchei Noam. Now I have my own family and I've migrated downtown. We are an interfaith family committed to the values of inclusion, social justice and creativity, and while Darchei Noam will always feel like a kind of home to me, I've been craving a Jewish...Read more...