
Wilshire POV
Every week, our Wilshire Boulevard Temple clergy share their Shabbat message. In about five minutes or less, they offer personal perspectives on a topic of their choice, such as Jewish holidays, the weekly Torah portion, liturgy, customs and traditions, and sometimes current events through the lens of Jewish learning and understanding.
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Episodes
97 episodes
Thoughtful Celebration - Rabbi Leah Lewis - July 4, 2025
By definition, ritual becomes habituated and in its familiarity lies much of its power. But when we never stop to consider why it is that we engage in the first place, the ritual loses its meaning and will eventually fade away.
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3:33

A Prayer for Shabbat - Cantor Lisa Peicott - June 27, 2025
Lucky for us, our tradition has a secret weapon to help us deal with the never-ending mishigas of our time, and no, it’s not a giant space laser
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3:15

Courage and Determination - Rabbi Hannah Elkin - June 20, 2025
This has been another difficult week. As we wait and watch and hold our breath over the news coming out of Israel, we feel tension, concern, and hope. The events unfolding in Israel and in our own backyard fill up our thoughts and trouble our s...
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3:17

Revelation Happens Every Day - Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro - May 30, 2025
As we approach the festival of Shavuot, most years (and this year included) we read from the torah portion Bamidbar - “in the wilderness”. For our ancestors, bamidbar meant leaving what they knew - slavery in Egypt. For us,
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3:27

Roadmap to Holiness - Cantor Lisa Peicott - May 9, 2025
For weeks we have been wading through the many ritual laws of the book of Leviticus, known in Hebrew as Vayikra. In short, Vayikra consists of rules about a specific holy place (Mishkan), with very specific kinds of sacr...
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3:36

On Creating a Holy Society - Rabbi Joel Nickerson
We are currently in the midst of the Book of Leviticus, a book dedicated to both the concept of purity and, more importantly, the values and actions a community must adhere to in order to create a holy society. We are a people who spend the maj...
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5:26

Spring Renewal and the Spirit of Passover - Rabbi Hannah Elkin
Spring has arrived in Southern California, signaling a time to embrace warmer weather and prepare for Passover. Rabbi Hannah Elkin expands beyond the story of the Exodus from Egypt and shares the other Jewish traditions, including the reading o...
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2:57

Bitterness and Sweetness: A Passover Reflection - Rabbi Leah Lewis
For this week's Shabbat Message, Rabbi Leah Lewis reflects on the emotional weight of Passover this year, marked by the ongoing captivity of 59 Israelis in Gaza. Yet, Passover also emphasizes the coexistence of bitterness and sweetness—represen...
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3:59

Personal Remarks at the Installation of Rabbi Joel Nickerson
Rabbi Joel Nickerson, on the occasion of his installation as the seventh Senior Rabbi in Wilshire Boulevard Temple's 163-year history, shares four pillars that will shape our future together: Hope, Vision, Community, and
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38:23

Choosing Hope Amidst Grief: A Mother's Promise - Cantor Lisa Peicott
This week’s Shabbat message comes from Cantor Lisa Peicott—not just as a clergy member, but as a mother. As we collectively mourn the devastating loss of Kfir and Ariel, the heartbreaking fate of the Bibas family, Cantor Peicott offers a promis...
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3:16

Origins of Valentine’s Day and of our Core Jewish Values - Rabbi Joel Nickerson
In this week's Shabbat message, Rabbi Nickerson shares the not-often-thought of origins of Valentine's Day and invites us to reflect on the origins of our core Jewish values from this week's Torah portion Parashat Yitro. These core principles s...
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6:30

Carrying the Burden Together - Rabbi Leah Lewis
This week's Shabbat Message reflects on the overwhelming challenges faced in the present moment, comparing current crises—such as ongoing fires, a fragile ceasefire in Israel, and political shifts—to past periods of struggle, particularly the a...
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3:49

"Hineini": Responding to Crisis with Presence and Action - Rabbi Leah Fein
Rabbi Leah Fein shares this week's parsha, Shemot, which includes the most famous story of fire in the entire Torah: the Burning Bush, where Moses answers God's call with "Hineini" ("Here I am"), signifying readiness to act in...
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4:29

The Essence of Joseph - Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro
This week we begin the Joseph saga in our Torah. Chanukah may seem like an unlikely time to think about forgiveness. The author, Stephen Mitchell, associates Joseph’s journey and character with the quality of forgiving in his retelling of the J...
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3:14

Healing Familial Brokenness - Rabbi Joel Nickerson
Many of us will have the blessing of sitting around a Thanksgiving table next week with members of our family with whom we share great joy and love. But others will be mourning the loss, and even death, of certain familial relationships. They w...
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5:25

Inertia - Lech Lacha - Rabbi Leah Lewis
“An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.”-Sir Isaac NewtonBaked into the basic laws of physics, there is a fun...
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3:27

The Significance of Making - Rabbi Leah Fein
This week, we read of someone who exhibits a strong sense of agency over his own future in the face of forces beyond what he can control. Not long after God has created the world, corruption and lawlessness filled the earth. So God decides to s...
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3:01

When Do You Stop Saying Shanah Tovah - Rabbi Hannah Elkin - October 25, 2024
When do you stop saying, “Shanah Tovah”? This is a question that clergy are commonly asked around this time of the Jewish year. Rabbi Hannah Elkin answers the question and offers an inspiring interpretation.
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2:56

It Wasn't Supposed to End this Way - Rabbi Joel Nickerson
It wasn’t supposed to end this way. He was supposed to come home.We saw her on TV, listened to her on podcasts, watched her and her husband, Jon, give speeches, and I even met with her this summer with a small group of us rabbis in...
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5:33

A Blessing, a Privilege, and a Sacred Responsibility - Rabbi Joel Nickerson
Right now, we are in the final book of the Torah, Deuteronomy, as Moses prepares the Israelites to enter the Promised Land. He outlines the values, priorities, and pitfalls they will face as they settle in this new land. This week’s...
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4:16

Nachamu - Shabbat of Comfort - Cantor Lisa Peicott
Nachamu, Nachamu ami, yomar eloheichemComfort, Comfort my people, says God…Tonight begins Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort, named after the first few words of the Haftarah portion this week:...
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2:25

Choices - Rabbi Hannah Elkin
In this week's Shabbat message Rabbi Hannah Elkin comments on the theme of Teshuvah in this week's portion Devarim, in the world today, and in our personal lives. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing...
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3:37

The Link Between Generations - Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro
Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro contemplates the links between generations in this week's Shabbat message. The Chatam Sofer taught, “There is always a difference between the older and younger generations…In the past, when the chain o...
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3:08
