Kol Tzedek
  • Spiritual Life
    • Hanukkah
    • Shabbat Links
    • Spiritual Care
    • Yahrzeits
    • Life Cycles
    • KT's Simcha Band
    • New Siddur!
  • About
    • Purpose, Vision, & Priorities
    • Calendar
    • Staff
    • Community Resources
    • Black Lives Matter
    • Israel-Palestine
    • Budget
    • Event Requests
    • COVID Community Guidelines
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Access at KT
    • Contact Us
  • Membership
    • Become a Member
    • KT Community Brit
    • Member Login
    • Update Your Sustaining Share
  • Learning
    • Members' Teachings
    • Torah School
    • Adult Learning
    • Rabbi's Blog
    • Rabbis' Sermons
    • The KT Library
    • Sha"tz Training Program
  • Ways to Give
    • Donate
    • Sponsor KT's New Sanctuary!
    • Sponsor an Oneg
    • Sponsor Captioning
    • Dedicate a Prayerbook
    • Friends of KT

Rabbi's Blog

ecdysis : molting exoskeletons

10/4/2019

 
I continue to feel the effervescent joy and vibrations of Rosh Hashanah. So full of gratitude for everyone who made that possible, which is everyone!

Yesterday I sent a draft of my Kol Nidre sermon to a friend to edit. When I opened it a few hours later I received a notification I never noticed before. There was a little blue box that read "Wow! This document has changed a lot. Do you want to reload?" I laughed and thought to myself, why yes I do! Here we are in the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I keep wanting to look inside my soul and say, "Wow! This person has changed a lot." Alas, it is easier to reload a google doc than transform our well-worn habits.

For this reason, I draw most of my inspiration for transformation from the natural world. This past July I spent a few weeks swimming in the rivers of New England. At each new swimming hole, one of the things I learned to look for was signs of a healthy water supply. I learned that tracking the presence of macro-invertebrates (dragonflies, crayfish, stoneflies, etc.) is used in New Zealand to measure the water quality of fresh water.

One morning we arrived to the bend of a beautiful river. As we were hopping from rock to rock, we noticed the rocks were covered in what looked like dried skeletons of prehistoric lizards. I later came to learn they were in fact the exuvius skeletons of nymph stoneflies. In biology, exuviae are the remains of an exoskeleton and related structures that are left after ecdysozoans (including insects, crustaceans, and arachnids) have molted. This is true of all animals that grow by ecdysis, molting their exoskeleton. In fact, stoneflies can molt as many as 20-30 times in their lifetimes.

On that summer day, as I ventured upstream with my kids, we hopped from rock to rock. We came across a nymph stonefly that was actually mid-molt. We sat and watched as the shell cracked down the center spine, its body was in the process of breaking through, preparing to let go and emerge anew. It seemed simultaneously possible and impossible. Kind of like this moment. We too are called to molt and transform, hopefully hundreds of times in our lifetimes. And this moment in the calendar, we are trying to break through.

May we each have the courage to carve out some time before Yom Kippur for reflection, forgiveness, and letting go.

Gmar Hatimah Tova and Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ari Lev

P.S. Here is a copy of my sermon from the first day of Rosh Hashanah. It was an honor to share these words of Torah with our extended community. We are also working to get lay leaders vorts and Divrei Torah on our website as well.

Comments are closed.

    Rabbi's Blog
    ​

    You can search Rabbi Ari Lev's blog below:

    Author

    Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari brings Torat Hayyim, a living tradition, to Kol Tzedek through thoughts about prayer, justice, and community. 

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Office & Mailing Address: 5300 Whitby Ave, Commercial #2, Philadelphia, PA 19143 
 General Questions: (267) 702-6187 or [email protected]
Shabbat Services: 5300 Whitby Ave, Commercial #1, Philadelphia, PA 19143 
  • Spiritual Life
    • Hanukkah
    • Shabbat Links
    • Spiritual Care
    • Yahrzeits
    • Life Cycles
    • KT's Simcha Band
    • New Siddur!
  • About
    • Purpose, Vision, & Priorities
    • Calendar
    • Staff
    • Community Resources
    • Black Lives Matter
    • Israel-Palestine
    • Budget
    • Event Requests
    • COVID Community Guidelines
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Access at KT
    • Contact Us
  • Membership
    • Become a Member
    • KT Community Brit
    • Member Login
    • Update Your Sustaining Share
  • Learning
    • Members' Teachings
    • Torah School
    • Adult Learning
    • Rabbi's Blog
    • Rabbis' Sermons
    • The KT Library
    • Sha"tz Training Program
  • Ways to Give
    • Donate
    • Sponsor KT's New Sanctuary!
    • Sponsor an Oneg
    • Sponsor Captioning
    • Dedicate a Prayerbook
    • Friends of KT