In his book Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue, Paul Woodruff points out that reverence is a crucial civic virtue that’s operative in both the personal and public spheres. He goes on to explain that virtues combine both emotion and intellectual understanding to lead us to act, automatically and habitually, in ways that reflect human dignity and that promote our well-being and flourishing. Critically, while virtues put us into connection with something that transcends our own specific and personal existence, their appreciation (even worship) are consistent with secular worldviews and we need not believe in “theology or transcendent myths” to find and cultivate virtue.

About the Instructor: Rabbi Rim Meirowitz was ordained as a Conservative rabbi in 1975. He be came the founding headmaster of the Rashi school in 1985, and he joined the Reform movement at that time. In 1997, Rabbi Rim became the third rabbi of Temple Shir Tikvah. He helped build our building in 2000 and has been blessed by every moment he has had with the Shir Tikvah community.