Posts by Cyril

PARSHAT EKEIV – GAINESVILLE One of the interesting ways of reading the Bible is trying to figure out the meanings of words. It’s not always so easy.  For instance, the word Shalom is one that everyone knows.  We all know it means ‘peace.’  But what, exactly, does that mean? If you look at the Russian…

Parashat Vaetchanan – Gainesville Some years ago, a colleague of Stella’s did something totally human: she tripped at her front door. When she came to the Orthodox Jewish day school she was teaching at, the rabbis asked her what happened and in a flash they came to her house to inspect….not the bottom of the…

Parashat Devarim – Gainesville Let’s go back to near the book of Numbers and play a little Columbo episode. Remember the story of the spies that Moses sent into the Land of Israel?  Well, in our parasha this week, Moses recalls that episode. But when we put on our detective Columbo eyes, we see some…

Parashat Mattot-Maseh 2025Rabbi Cy Stanway – Shir Shalom – Gainesville Florida Mattot: Let them Eat Brioche is not a NegotiationJuly 25 – GainesvilleRabbi Cy Stanway You all know the expression; two Jews, three opinions.  It usually elicits a chuckle because we know its true. Jews seem to occupy something of a Twilight Zone in their…

Rabbi Cy StanwayShir Shalom – GainesvilleJuly 11, 2025 There is an old saying that what makes God laugh is seeing our plans for the future or, as John Lennon once said, ‘Life is what happens while you are making other plans.’  It might be more accurate to say, rather, that what makes God really laugh…

No More Hiding… GAINESVILLE – JULY 4 2025 When I was at camp many years ago, one of the standard exercises we used to do was the now familiar ‘are you a Jewish American or an American Jew’? Disregarding the fact that I was Canadian, it was an interesting exercise. Of course, to this day,…

Dvar for June 25 Korach The Torah portion this week is one of the most confusing in the entire Torah.  Its words are clear and the narrative is straightforward.  So what’s the problem? First, let’s go over the text a bit. Korach is a priest and, as a priest, is already in a privileged position in the…

As you may know, I try to find Jewish content and Jewish meaning in everything.  There always seems to be a Jewish moment in even the most secular of things.  I have found Jewish moments in baseball.  After all, what is the whole point of baseball except finding your way back home?  And isn’t that…

Yom Kippur Morning 2023 Rabbi Cy Stanway I want to share a true story[1] with you:  In 1975, in Cologne, Germany, there was an ambitious high school student who loved jazz music when no one else around here seemed to have any interest. And so at 16 she basically became a concert promoter, and she got…

Erev Yom Kippur Erev Yom Kippur 2023Rabbi Cy Stanway I love playing around with words and expressions. There is always insight to be gleaned by dwelling on a word or a phrase and creating a midrash on the fly. For instance, in Hebrew the word for king is, of course, Melech.  The word for clown is lemach.…