Rabbi Ashira Boxman
Rabbi Ashira Boxman
Rabbi Ashira Boxman graduated from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 2025. During her years at HUC-JIR, Ashira served as rabbinic intern at Larchmont Temple and Temple Sharaay Tefila of Westchester, where she helped lead worship and worked with students of all ages as a teacher and advisor. She also spent time learning pastoral care as a chaplain at Bellevue Hospital.
Ashira has a deep passion and commitment for the State of Israel. During her time in rabbinical school, she taught a college-accredited high school course on the history of Israel to 11-12th grade students, and in partnership with Rabbi Josh Weinberg, the Executive Director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), Ashira pioneered monthly Israel programming for her fellow students at HUC-JIR in New York. She was recently published in Young Zionist Voices, a collection of essays on Zionism by young Jewish leaders, and is an “iFellow” earning a Masters Concentration in Israel Education at the iCenter.
Blogs By This Author
Shabbat Message
Shavuot: Receiving Torah, Receiving Ourselves: Shabbat Message by Rabbi Ashira Boxman
In teaching about the Torah to religious school students, I often ask the same questions to begin relating the Torah to their lives: “What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite book? How many times have you reread the same book?” Most students say they’ve read their favorite
May 22, 2026
Shabbat Message
The Light Around Us: Shabbat Message by Rabbi Ashira Boxman
There’s a story told about a rabbi whose students once asked him, “What does it mean to be a truly devoted Jewish person?” The rabbi answered with an image: “A devoted Jewish person is like a lamplighter, someone who walks through the darkness carrying a flame, going from lamp to
April 17, 2026
Shabbat Message
Preparing for Passover: Inside and Out: Shabbat Message by Rabbi Ashira Boxman
One of my favorite Jewish memories as a little girl was the ritual known as bedikat chametz, the search for leavened food. Every year, right before the beginning of Passover, my dad would hide ten small pieces of bread around the house. And only once nightfall came did the ritual
March 27, 2026
Shabbat Message
The Spirit of Joy: Shabbat Message by Rabbi Ashira Boxman
Just a few days ago, we welcomed the new Hebrew month of Adar. In our tradition, Adar is known as the “happy month.” The Talmud teaches, “When Adar enters, we increase in joy.” (Taanit 29a) This joy is rooted in the story of Purim; in Mordechai and Esther’s courage as
February 20, 2026
Shabbat Message
The First Commandment: Marking Time: Shabbat Message by Rabbi Ashira Boxman
Like so many others, during those first dark months of COVID-19, I completely lost track of time. I would forget what day of the week it was. Each day blurred into the next. Staying home, changing from my nighttime pajamas into my daytime pajamas, doing schoolwork on the computer (I
January 23, 2026
Shabbat Message
The Light We Carry: Shabbat Message by Rabbi Ashira Boxman
In attending this year’s Interfaith Thanksgiving gathering, I was deeply moved by a teaching shared by Omar Uddin from the Islamic Center of Boca Raton. He spoke about a well known verse from the Qur’an, “A likeness of His light is as a niche in which is a lamp, the
December 12, 2025
Shabbat Message
Reflections from the World Zionist Congress: Shabbat Message by Rabbi Ashira Boxman
Last week, I had the privilege of attending my first World Zionist Congress as a delegate representing ARZENU—the political voice of Reform, Progressive, and Liberal Religious Zionists within the World Zionist Organization. Of all my trips to Israel, this one felt different. To be surrounded by hundreds of Jews from
November 7, 2025
Shabbat Message
A Circular Table: Shabbat Message by Rabbi Ashira Boxman
Circular tables have always been my favorite. For as long as I can remember, I’d ask the hostess at a restaurant if we could sit at a round table. At first glance, it’s just a table shaped like a circle, but the atmosphere it creates goes much deeper. Circular tables
October 17, 2025
Shabbat Message
Reflecting on Our Special Moments: Shabbat Message by Rabbi Ashira Boxman
“The day you were born was the day God decided the world could not continue without you.” These words, attributed to the Baal Shem Tov, feel especially powerful during these Ten Days of Awe, the sacred stretch of time between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. These days are among the
September 26, 2025
Shabbat Message
The Wisdom of the Pencil Maker: Shabbat Message by Rabbi Ashira Boxman
I see you. Your entire clergy sees you. To be human today is not easy. With the news of yet another school shooting, this time at Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota on our hearts and minds, we are once again painfully reminded of the hate and violence that persist in
August 29, 2025