Kirva Resources

By Rabbi David Jaffe Image Description: Blog image with a photo of a sunrise over an ocean beach. Text on top says, Elul 5786, by Rabbi David Jaffe. The one summer I spent at a sleep-away camp as a child, I wrote six-page letters to my parents almost every day. Thankfully, my mother saved these letters, and I’ve been reading them daily over the past six weeks. What is striking to me, and why I am starting a blog about Elul with this story, is how I recognize the contours of m

By Rabbi David Jaffe Image Description: Blog image with a photo of large burnt tree with new branches growing out of it. Text reads, “Av 5786 by Rabbi David Jaffe”. The spiritual practice of these three weeks from 17 Tammuz (July 1-2) to 9 Av (July 22-23) invites us to stand on the edge of a spiritual precipice, overlooking a valley of despair. The destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem 2000 years ago was the shattering of the key vessel used for repair—between people an

By Yehudah Webster Image Description: Blog image with a photo of a mountain lake on a cloudy day. The lake is on the foreground,with layers of trees and mountain edges fading behind fog in the distance. Text reads, “Tammuz 5786 by Yehudah Webster”. “Hamalach Hagoel Oti…The Messenger that Redeemed Me from all Evil: Bless my descendants and the world they live in. Create the conditions for them to continue to fight for Me, for Us, for You, for WE. Every generation has empires

By Jake Green Image description: Blog image with a photo of a sunrise over a hazy, jagged, golden mountain range with clouds behind and in front of themountains. Text reads, “Sivan 5786 by Jake Green”. There’s a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from believing deeply in the possibility of a better world while living through evidence, again and again, of how far away it still is. As we begin Sivan and prepare ourselves for Shavuot, I find myself thinking about the wilde

By Rabbi David Jaffe Image description: Blog image with a photo of a sunrise over a hazy golden mountain range, trees, and hilltops fading in the fog off in the distance Text reads, “Iyar 5786 by Rabbi David Jaffe”. When I was studying in Yeshiva 25 years ago, I got a ride home one day from a man who spent most of the ride explaining to me that the concept of Tzelem Elokim, that humans are made in the Divine image, only applied to Jews. At the time, people who believed simil

By Rabbi David Jaffe Image description: Blog image with a photo of a sunrise over a foggy valley with trees and hilltops glistening in the golden sun.. Text reads, “Nisan 5786 by Rabbi David Jaffe”. A rejection followed by a welcome embrace at the start of this past Purim is informing the way I’m thinking about the upcoming Passover holiday. On Ta’anit Esther (Monday, March 1, the day before Purim) I was in New York City to officiate my uncle’s funeral. The shiva was that af