Rabbi Abrams Blog

On Wednesday, a young Israeli couple was driving from San Diego to Las Vegas and got in a terrible car crash in Wildomar (15 @ Clinton Keith). I was called shortly after and arrived at the hospital while the girl was still in surgery. She broke her neck and spine and the doctors were rebuilding it. Please say a  prayer  for Nava bat Simcha Mimi. Our  JLI  class that night was also in the merit of her recovery. I’m not telling you this story to gossip about someone else’s misfortune. It’s to tell you how wonderful our community is. And what it means to love a fellow Jew. After a long day and just finishing cleaning up dinner, Natanya made a second dinner for the family. That’s love for a fellow Jew. I then called a doctor friend who is the head at a nearby hospital and asked if she has any connections that might help Nava get the best care. She visited herself!! Even though it’s not her hospital! Even though she never met her! This is loving a fellow Jew. Yesterday, I...

Just after Devorah Leah was born a nurse asked me, “So how many children do you want to have”? I don’t know what got into me, but I replied, “Infinity!" It’s not that we haven’t heard of birth control. Or that we have plans to have 13 or 20 children. We just don’t think like that. Our thought process is actually the complete opposite of what some consider standard. One way of living life is that the default status of marriage is “no children”. Depending on a “family plan”, a couple might temporarily change the default in order to “have children”. Maybe one or two, or five or seven. For us, it’s the opposite. The default of being married is “yes children”. And sometimes we have to temporarily change from the default to “no children”. Our children have been the biggest blessing in our life. And they have forced us to “operate at a higher level”. There were times that we had to temporarily “say no” to G-d’s blessings. But the knowledge that we were “rejecting” G-d’s blessing… Pushed ...

For the past 4 years, we have been homeless as a community. It’s hard to believe that it was 2018 when we left the storefront. Thank G-d it gave us the push to buy the property, which is inches away from getting a grading permit. For the past few months, we’ve been working on a temporary shul on the side of our home (our girls gave up their big bedroom to become the sanctuary), so we can have a designated space to express our Jewishness until the new property is finished. The past two months have been the most intense in my life. Between a new baby, a marathon Purim & Pesach and this construction, I’ve been at my limits (that’s why I haven’t been writing). There were times that I felt guilty about the construction taking away from my regular rabbi duties. On the bright side, despite this major distraction, Purim and Pesach had a greater reach than ever. But I couldn’t call and meet people as much as I’d like. We’re now at the finishing touches. Finally I’ll have a normal office wri...