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JFGSB Blog

Explore news and featured stories about Jewish Federation programs, volunteers, donors, special events and updates from our partners in Israel. Learn how you can become more in engaged with the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara.

Sep 11, 2020

A Sabbath Message: Elul Jewel #4 – Memory and Meaning

“A great horn sounds, calling you to remembrance, but all you can remember is how much you have forgotten. Every day for a month, you sit and try to remember who you are and where you are going. By the last week of this month…your prayers become urgent. Then the great horn sounds in earn…

Sep 4, 2020

A Sabbath Message: Elul Jewel #3 – The Question of Faith

“Love models the intimacy of faith. God feels suddenly real, inexplicably present, in a flash of closeness, a sudden flush of love. Questions do not disappear, instead they come before One who receives them. In relationship, answers are not solutions, but the affirmation of worth and close…

Aug 28, 2020

A Sabbath Message: Elul Jewel #2 – The Power of Prayer

“The very first word Jews say every day is Modeh even before we think, we thank. That’s the first rule of prayer. It’s about not taking life for granted. It’s a meditation on the miracle of being. We are here. We might not have been. Somehow, that makes every day a celebratio…

Aug 21, 2020

A Sabbath Message: The Jewel of Elul – An Inner Journey

“On this journey, our soul will awaken to itself. We will venture from innocence to sin and back to innocence again. This is a journey from denial to awareness, from self-deception to judgement and self-forgiveness…It is the snapshot the Jewish people pull out every single autumn of the …

Aug 14, 2020

A Sabbath Message: Choosing Happiness in Challenging Times

“Everyone wants happiness, no one wants pain. But you can’t make a rainbow without a little rain.” – Dolly Parton

With the arrival of Shabbat this week, I find myself reflecting upon compelling research I have been reading about lately: the importance of HAPPINESS during difficul…