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Modeh Ani: Giving Thanks One Morning at a Time

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It’s been a long time since I’ve had babies around the house. So I just forgot.  I forgot how after a long night’s sleep, my rested babies would often wake up with the biggest bright eyes, sweet smiles, and happy, happy dispositions. I got a taste of that sweetness last weekend when my niece Katie and husband Brandon came for a visit, and they brought with them their 8-month old bundle of love. His name is Cole. And when Cole woke up that first morning of his visit it was clear that he was one happy guy. It was like he knew the essential truth of existence — one that us grown ups frequently forget. Cole, in all his smiley, morning enthusiasm, personified what a blessing it is just to wake up, to be alive, and to be given the gift of another day. How would it be possible to recapture this morning joy for myself, I wondered. How can I wake up to being more like Cole? In this season of Thanksgiving, I am reminded that the Jewish liturgy offers a technology to access morning gra
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Lech-Lecha: Go Forth To Boulder

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Was it masterful planning or Divine synchronicity that the Boulder JCC held its Shalom Boulder event — introducing new residents to the Boulder Jewish community — the week we read the Torah portion, Lech-Lecha? To me, it felt like a little bit of both. In Lech-Lecha, Genesis 12:1, God said to Abram, “Go forth from your homeland to the land that I shall show you.” My husband Monte and I moved to Boulder three months ago, and we have lived in three different places since we sold our family home in Evanston, Illinois three years ago. That’s a lot of threes, and it sure has been a lot of moving around. But after our nest emptied, and we both retired — Monte gave up his health care law career after 35 years, and I finished my work at a non-profit training program for at-risk youth — we decided to take some risks that would bring new energy and experiences into our lives and our marriage.  In his book “ Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life ,” Rabbi Al
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There With Care

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DONATE  ‌    ‌    ‌    ‌ Volunteer News November 2019 Families have their hands full with doctors' appointments, medical diagnoses and treatments. Volunteers can help with some of the everyday burdens by delivering groceries, diapers and other essentials. ‘One Person ’ s Kindness Lasts a Lifetime’ by Lori Dube When a family with a critically ill child is expecting a delivery from a There With Care volunteer, they know they are about to feel the love.  “ There With Care came today to deliver our groceries and diapers. I don’t know what we’d do without them,” said the mother of one of the families we serve.  “ They have been such a blessing in our lives. It meant so much to me to just know today that someone thought of us, someone cared. One person’s kindness lasts a lifetime. ” Thank you, volunteers, for surrounding families with love, letting
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Bagel, Lox and Torah

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Nothing goes better with Torah Study than bagels, lox, and cream cheese. So if it is a Saturday morning around 9 a.m. at Congregation Har HaShem in Boulder, you can find both, and some 30 to 40 souls, who are there to chew on it all.  “I used to work at a congregations that called it ‘BLT’ — Bagels, Lox and Torah, but then the recession hit and we changed the name to Bagels, Learning and Torah,” Rabbi Fred Greene, says with a chuckle. This one hour weekly study session with Rabbi Greene, which each week draws many familiar faces, and always a few new ones, could easily be called ‘BLLLT,’ Bagels, Lox, Learning, Laughter and Torah, because there’s plenty of everything. There’s lots of reasons people show up around the long rectangular table (with additional seats lining the walls of the large, open room to accommodate everyone), but most would say it is for spiritual and intellectual sustenance…rather than the delicious carbs. People come for a deep dive into the weekly Par
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Parshat Bereshit: The Blessing of the Birds

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In Bereshit, the very first parsha in the book of Genesis, the world comes into being through G-d’s power of creation. First there is the separation of the Light from the Dark, and then the division of Heaven and Earth. Next comes the land, sea and vegetation, and then the sun, moon and stars. After four days of miraculous feats, G-d brings forth fish and birds, and for the first time, uses the technology of saying a Blessing to affirm these first living creatures. Genesis 1:20-23 says: וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יִשְׁרְצ֣וּ הַמַּ֔יִם שֶׁ֖רֶץ נֶ֣פֶשׁ חַיָּ֑ה וְעוֹף֙ יְעוֹפֵ֣ף עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ עַל־פְּנֵ֖י רְקִ֥יעַ הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds that fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”  וַיִּבְרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֔ים אֶת־הַתַּנִּינִ֖ם הַגְּדֹלִ֑ים וְאֵ֣ת כָּל־נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַֽחַיָּ֣ה ׀ הָֽרֹמֶ֡שֶׂת אֲשֶׁר֩ שָׁרְצ֨וּ הַמַּ֜יִם לְמִֽינֵהֶ֗ם וְאֵ֨ת כָּל־ע֤וֹף כָּנָף֙ לְמִינֵ֔הוּ וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב׃  God cre
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