Karen S. Sim

Voices of WRJ: Lech L’cha

Karen S. Sim

October 11, 2013

This week’s parashah, Lech L’cha, translated as “Go Forth,” is virtually a watchword of our faith. It is one of the most familiar chapters of the Bible. The Debbie Friedman song inspired by this parashah, L’chi Lach, is sung at sisterhood services and in my memory, at every WRJ District meeting and WRJ event I have ever attended. The parashah begins with these most famous words: God said to Abram, “Go forth from your father’s land, your birthplace, your father’s house, to the land that I will show you, I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you: I will make your name great, and it shall be a blessing. (Genesis 12:1 – 12:2)

Voices of WRJ

Ordination - Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion 2012/5772

Karen S. Sim

August 9, 2012

I must confess, I never blog. I sometimes go on Facebook, I listen to phone messages, I text, I do not tweet, and I am sometimes challenged to answer my e-mail on a timely basis. I work full time, have an elderly mother, a household to manage and although officially an empty nester, I do not always feel like one. Are there any of you who recognize yourselves? We are all busy women – yet I am rarely too busy to answer the WRJ call. I had the privilege of answering that call in June when I represented all of us, all 65,000 Women of Reform Judaism, at the ordination of the Hebrew Union College Cincinnati campus rabbinical class of 2012. Ordination for the Cincinnati campus always takes place at the historic Plum Street Temple, built in 1865, part of the Isaac M. Wise Temple, my congregation.