Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Ner Tamid Synagogue

Nadav Cain
Nadav Cain
Place

Ner Tamid Synagogue

15318 Pomerado Road, Poway

San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your sermon?

Rabbi Nadav Cain: I always preach conversationally, and I don’t prepare a sermon ahead of time. I usually speak without notes or with very few notes. How, then, do I prepare for my sermon? I think about it, I read scripture, and I read commentaries on the scripture — depending on what my mood might be. I might read historical or mystical; I might read the biblical-critical. I think about it during the week and when I actually stand up to deliver the sermon, I just speak.

SDR: What is your favorite subject on which to preach?

RC: If you are truly free, you can love anybody…. We have this illusion that we make free decisions all the time, but I think most of our decisions are not free most of the time…. The real freedom is having the freedom to choose who you’re going to follow — what leader or what code.

Sponsored
Sponsored

SDR: Why Conservative Judaism?

RC: I absolutely believe that Conservative Judaism is the most authentic form of Judaism in the world. I am a passionate scholar of Jewish law and traditional Jewish texts, and when you study rabbinic texts and Jewish legal codes, they are far more lenient and liberal than Orthodox Judaism today…. Originally Buddhism was called “the Middle Way,” and I love Aristotle, who was all about the Golden Mean. The most influential movement in China has been Confucianism — and it essentially translates as the Golden Mean. That’s what Conservative Judaism is. Being in the middle is very spiritual.

SDR: Why did you become a rabbi?

RC: I thought I could make more of a difference in people’s lives, and I think I was right.

SDR: What does the name of your synagogue — Ner Tamid — mean, and how does it relate to your community’s mission?

RC: It means “eternal flame.” It was the eternal flame used on the sacrificial altar in the first five books of the Bible….Wisdom or God or tradition or holiness — they’re interchangeable words — is the flame that you have as a human being. Before you’re snuffed out you want to inspire and enkindle the love of wisdom in another. It is a matter of soul touching soul like one flame lighting another.

SDR: Where do we go when we die?

RC: My personal belief is in reincarnation, which is held by about 15 percent of the rabbis of our tradition, so it’s not a majority position. I believe what the rabbis of the Talmud are saying is that there is a next plane of existence, but it is hubris to pretend we know what it looks like. Anyone that wants to sell you a picture of what it looks like is a charlatan because once we go there we don’t come back to talk about it. I believe that there is some energy or aspect of our existence that passes back into some kind of invisible transcendent realm, but it’s hubris to pretend we know what it looks like. I also believe souls visit the Earth after death in some form some of the time, at least temporarily.

Denomination: Conservative Judaism; nertamidsd.org

Membership: 185 families

Rabbi: Nadav Cain

Age: 46

Born: Philadelphia, Pa.

Formation: Princeton University, NJ; Harvard Divinity School, MA; Stanford University, Stanford; Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, Los Angeles

Ordained: 1 year

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Lost Abbey finds a new way

Best drinking in San Diego
Next Article

Scott Peters aide gets free travel and hotel from Big Pharma

Todd Gloria sucks up money from Big Billboards
Nadav Cain
Nadav Cain
Place

Ner Tamid Synagogue

15318 Pomerado Road, Poway

San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your sermon?

Rabbi Nadav Cain: I always preach conversationally, and I don’t prepare a sermon ahead of time. I usually speak without notes or with very few notes. How, then, do I prepare for my sermon? I think about it, I read scripture, and I read commentaries on the scripture — depending on what my mood might be. I might read historical or mystical; I might read the biblical-critical. I think about it during the week and when I actually stand up to deliver the sermon, I just speak.

SDR: What is your favorite subject on which to preach?

RC: If you are truly free, you can love anybody…. We have this illusion that we make free decisions all the time, but I think most of our decisions are not free most of the time…. The real freedom is having the freedom to choose who you’re going to follow — what leader or what code.

Sponsored
Sponsored

SDR: Why Conservative Judaism?

RC: I absolutely believe that Conservative Judaism is the most authentic form of Judaism in the world. I am a passionate scholar of Jewish law and traditional Jewish texts, and when you study rabbinic texts and Jewish legal codes, they are far more lenient and liberal than Orthodox Judaism today…. Originally Buddhism was called “the Middle Way,” and I love Aristotle, who was all about the Golden Mean. The most influential movement in China has been Confucianism — and it essentially translates as the Golden Mean. That’s what Conservative Judaism is. Being in the middle is very spiritual.

SDR: Why did you become a rabbi?

RC: I thought I could make more of a difference in people’s lives, and I think I was right.

SDR: What does the name of your synagogue — Ner Tamid — mean, and how does it relate to your community’s mission?

RC: It means “eternal flame.” It was the eternal flame used on the sacrificial altar in the first five books of the Bible….Wisdom or God or tradition or holiness — they’re interchangeable words — is the flame that you have as a human being. Before you’re snuffed out you want to inspire and enkindle the love of wisdom in another. It is a matter of soul touching soul like one flame lighting another.

SDR: Where do we go when we die?

RC: My personal belief is in reincarnation, which is held by about 15 percent of the rabbis of our tradition, so it’s not a majority position. I believe what the rabbis of the Talmud are saying is that there is a next plane of existence, but it is hubris to pretend we know what it looks like. Anyone that wants to sell you a picture of what it looks like is a charlatan because once we go there we don’t come back to talk about it. I believe that there is some energy or aspect of our existence that passes back into some kind of invisible transcendent realm, but it’s hubris to pretend we know what it looks like. I also believe souls visit the Earth after death in some form some of the time, at least temporarily.

Denomination: Conservative Judaism; nertamidsd.org

Membership: 185 families

Rabbi: Nadav Cain

Age: 46

Born: Philadelphia, Pa.

Formation: Princeton University, NJ; Harvard Divinity School, MA; Stanford University, Stanford; Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, Los Angeles

Ordained: 1 year

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

What do they have in common? – WD-40, the coyote vest, neoprene board shorts, banana hat

San Diego inventors' conquests
Next Article

Haunted Corn Maze, Great Train Show

Events October 5-October 9, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader