Kol Nidre - Forgiveness
10/16/2024 04:26:47 PM
Rosh Hashanah Day 2 - War Sirens
10/16/2024 04:24:31 PM
Re'eh - The Power of Hope
10/16/2024 04:19:56 PM
At the end of a big Jewish community event last fall - the Z3 conference - all of us community rabbis were invited up on the stage to lead the singing of Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem.
Hatikvah, as many of you know, means “the hope”. The song describes the two thousand year-old hope of the Jewish people, that someday we would return to our homeland.
עוד לא אבדה...Read more...
Shoftim – Write a Torah
09/26/2024 09:45:15 AM
Shoftim – Write a Torah
Charles Ramsey was the Chief of Police in Washington DC from 1998 – 2007. Listen to his words: “Policing is often referred to as a job or a profession. In reality, it is much more. Policing is a calling. It is a pledge to dedicate our professional lives to serving other people and protecting those things our citizens hold...Read more...
Ki Tavo – Love the Ger
09/26/2024 09:44:04 AM
Ki Tavo – Love the Ger
*Ger means stranger/foreigner
I have a distinct memory from when I was around nine or ten and would attend Yom Kippur services. We came to that pages-long prayer Al Chet, where we enumerated all the ways we missed the mark in the past...Read more...
Pinchas - The Broken Vav
07/30/2024 09:11:20 AM
Pinchas - The Broken Vav
Peace is fragile. It is difficult to achieve and maintain. Through a subtle detail – a broken vav - our Torah portion drives this point home.
Before we can get to the detail, we have to know the back story. At the end of last week’s portion, we learn that a plague had broken out because the Israelites...Read more...
Leah Ezray – Eulogy
07/23/2024 12:30:41 PM
I adored my mom. She was fun and full of life. She was kind. She was present. She was grateful for anything and everything someone did for her. She lived life with genuine love that lifted me, and everyone who knew her, up. She let me know that she admired and respected me. I am heartbroken.
There is a line in the Eshet Chayil...Read more...
Bechukotai – Humility
06/28/2024 02:28:13 PM
Bechukotai – Humility
Frank Bruni is a well-known writer who also teaches journalism at Duke University. He wrote a powerful column entitled The Most Important Lessons Aren’t on the Syllabus where he talks about behavior he expects from his students. These lessons wisely speak to our broader society at this moment in history.
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Naso – The Power of Blessing
06/28/2024 02:26:26 PM
Naso – The Power of Blessing
What is the greatest gift a parent can give their child? The knowledge that they are loved. And what is the greatest gift a child can give a parent? The knowledge that they know they are loved. I know that many of us finds ways to say, “I love you” to our children all of the time, but what if we had a ritual...Read more...
Acharei Mot – Put it on the Goat
06/28/2024 02:24:24 PM
Acharei Mot – Put it on the Goat
In my class on giving sermons in rabbinical school, we were told to be able to summarize our sermons in a sentence. Here is today’s sentence: Put all your wrongdoing on the goat and let them go. Send it into the wilderness!
That is the take away our Bat Mitzvah, Eva, and many others learn...Read more...
Chol HaMoed – Matzah Tastes Different this Year
06/28/2024 02:21:40 PM
Chol HaMoed – Matzah Tastes Different this Year
Matzah and Passover have felt different this year. Their meanings resonate in ways I had not experienced in the past. The themes of the Seder and the symbolism of matzah are so real! As our Bar Mitzvah Noah shared, matzah has multiple meanings and each one speaks to our moment: As we say “We are slaves,” we...Read more...
Vayechi - Looking Back and Forward
01/29/2024 04:41:40 PM
Vayechi - Looking Back and Forward
As we wish one another Happy New Year, we reflect on how different the secular New Year is from the Jewish New Year. Think about the greetings – there is a big difference between “Happy New Year” – which is about an emotion, and “Shana Tovah” which means a Good New Year and is about behavior. For...Read more...