Pikudei 2025
Our Torah portion this week is called Pikudei, and it is the final portion in the book of Exodus. Toby will be our teacher tomorrow morning, and I promised her, as I promise every B’Mitzvah student, that I will never speak on Friday night on the same topic that they will speak on on Saturday morning.
My words are about the very end of the portion, as the Israelites complete the project of the building of...Read more...
Yom Kippur Morning 5785 - Israel
Okay, here it is. The Israel sermon. I promised it on erev Rosh Hashanah, not having any idea on what I would speak. Hamas? Gaza? Hezbollah? Lebanon? Houthis? Iran? West Bank? Settlers? Bibi Netanyahu? Bezalel Smotrich? Itamar Ben-Gvir?
None of the above. Any sermon by me on the politics of Israel or on how Israel wages war wouldn’t do any...Read more...
Kol Nidrei 5785 – Rising Antisemitism and Finding Hope
Ten years ago this evening, I gave a sermon on rising antisemitism and opened with the following story:
My grandfather, Gustav Leibowitz, my mother’s father, emigrated to the U.S. around 1905. His father had died, and he came here with his mother and two younger brothers from Romania. Although I was 16 when my grandfather died, I never asked him why he left his home. But I’m fairly certain I know the reason.
In 1866, the...Read more...
Rosh Hashanah 5785 Day 1 – Taking Care of Each Other
This past spring, I participated in a seven-week program with the FBI entitled the Citizen’s Academy. FBI agents nominate different people in the community to participate, with the hope that the attendees become educated about, and public supporters of, the agency. I was nominated because one of the head agents for New Hampshire has gotten to know me as antisemitism has been on the rise in the state and I was the target of two different...Read more...
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5785 – Campus Protests
It might not surprise you to learn this about me: in college, I was a campus activist. I graduated from high school in 1978. I spent my first year of college at Drew University, a tiny school in northern New Jersey. The place was so wrong for me, particularly because I felt like I was living in a fishbowl. I eventually found a group a friends, and we went into New York City most Saturday nights. By early spring, I knew I had to...Read more...
Titzaveh – Purim Katan 5784
What holiday did we celebrate today, that goes into tomorrow? Anyone?
Today was the observance of Purim … katan; tomorrow is Shushan Purim katan. Can anyone share what these are/mean?
I think we all are familiar with Purim, the holiday detailed in the Book of Esther commemorating the miracle of the Jews being saved from their evil enemy Haman. Most years, it is celebrated on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar. But in...Read more...
Vay’chi 5784
I want you to picture the inside of a Torah scroll, the columns with Hebrew text. One question I am asked often is, “how do you find the text you’re looking for when you open up the scroll?”
It’s not always easy, but some consistencies in the scrolls help. To begin with, all Torah portions begin either on a new line or on the same line as where the previous portion ended,...Read more...
Miketz 5784
An Israeli jeweler named Hadaya had his shop in the Cardo, in the Old City. You never went into Hadaya’s shop if you were in a hurry. Hadaya was famous for an engraved ring he made and sold – and for this story, which was told with the sale of each ring:
One early spring, probably near Purim, King Solomon realized that he had a problem. Banaiah, his most trusted advisor, was also his favorite. The other advisors were jealous of...Read more...
Chanukah in a Time of War
Chanukah is the most important holiday on the Jewish calendar, right? One might surely believe that living in America in 2023. And yet, nothing could be further from the truth. In the order of importance, we Jews celebrate or observe: (1) Shabbat, or the Sabbath; (2) Rosh Hashanah; (2) Yom Kippur (they are tied); (4) Sukkot; (5) Pesach or Passover; (6) Shavuot; (7) Tisha B’Av; and then, coming in at the bottom, are...Read more...
Yom Kippur Morning 5784 • Tz’dakah
This story has many attributions and many versions. This one, slightly edited, is told by Rabbi Larry Kushner.
A long time ago in the Israeli town of S’fat, the richest man in the community was sleeping, as usual, through Shabbat morning services. Every now and then, he would almost wake up, trying to get comfortable on the hard wooden bench, and then sink back into a deep sleep....Read more...
Kol Nidre 5784 • T’shuvah
The corner of Market and Powell Streets in downtown San Francisco is a popular tourist destination: it’s the origination point for the Powell Street Cable Car. Head over there any summer day and you’ll see a long line of sweat-shirted out-of-towners, braving the fog, and waiting to board one of the Bay Area’s most popular tourist activity.
Those tourists are well entertained...Read more...
Rosh Hashanah 5784: Praying Is Hard
Prayer is hard. No, that’s not right. Maybe I should say “to pray is hard.” But that’s not right, either. To pray with meaning and conviction is hard. That’s it. And that can be really hard.
During my now 18 years as an ordained rabbi, more than one person has told me that they can no longer pray the words of our siddur – or of any siddur or any machzor. These prayers depict an omnipresent all-knowing God who is the source...Read more...
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5784: My Day in DC – Or What It Means to See Each Other as B’tzelem Elohim
On July 19 of this past summer, I flew down to Washington, DC, at the invitation of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, to be present at Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress. The pomp and ceremony were remarkable. My seating was fantastic – behind the CSPAN camera. The people with me in the gallery seats had done wonderous things in the name of and on behalf of the Jewish people. President Herzog could have been more...Read more...
B'midbar 2023
I grew up in Oakland, NJ, a small town in the northern part of the state. We lived on a dead end – Hannah Road. The street that intersected with ours – Page Drive – was also a dead end to the south. Beyond the dead end on Page Drive were some woods. If you walked into the woods and up a hill, you reached the sand dunes. A local family who owned most...Read more...
P'kudei 2023
This week we conclude reading from the book of Exodus with the double portions of Vayakheil and P’kudei. When we come to the last portion in a book of Torah, we Jews have an interesting tradition. After the Torah is read, we raise it up high, turn it around to show the words of the Torah to the congregation, and say the Hebrew words, chazak, chazak, v’nitchaziek – “be strong, be strong, and we shall be...Read more...
Mishpatim 2023
You remember March of 2020 don’t you? A virus had arrived in this country in January from the other side of the world. It was a Monday, I believe, when the governor, like virtually all other governors, shut down the state.
The next day, Tuesday, we were all home when there was a ring at the front doorbell. “That...Read more...
Vayigash 2022
A story is told: In a mountain village in Europe a few centuries ago, there was a nobleman who was concerned about the legacy he would leave to the people of his town. The man spent a great deal of time contemplating his dilemma, and at last, decided to build a synagogue. In the course of his planning, he decided that no one would see the plans for the building until it was finished. The construction took quite a...Read more...
Yom Kippur 5783: The Healing Power of Prayer
By a show of hands, how many you have said a misheberach prayer for someone who was ill? Please put your hands down. How many of you believe it will do any good? How many of you don’t know if it will, and are only hedging your bets? How many of you feel awkward doing so, but do so anyway?
When I was newly ordained, I came to a tiny shul in New Jersey as their first full-time rabbi. This is significant only insofar as it meant that...Read more...
Kol Nidrei 5783: Thank You For Bringing Me Your Heart
One Friday night five years ago, on the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I decided to stay home. My husband Don - yes, also a rabbi - led the early Shabbat service. Afterwards, he looked… anxious? Thoughtful? Puzzled. He described feeling “not right.” He indicated there was some pressure on his chest and tightness in his jaw. We waited. It didn’t get better, so we opted for the ER, figuring, why not have the...Read more...
Sh'lach Lecha 2022
It’s June. For many of us, June means the end of school and the start of summer vacation. Or it might mean a lighter work schedule and more family time. It can mean camp, warm weather, mosquitoes.
For anyone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual,...Read more...
K'doshim 2022
This week’s portion is K’doshim. The portion contains a myriad of commandments, right from the outset, as we read, k’doshim t’hiyu ki kadosh ani Adonai eloheichem – “You shall be holy, for I, the Eternal God, am holy.” That’s the overarching theme. Then we get to the specifics.
A few verses later we read, v’ahavta...Read more...
Achrei Mot 2022
Our portion this week is Achrei Mot, meaning after the death of. It refers to the sons of Aaron, Nadav and Abihu, who died while offering a “strange” or unwanted fire to God. While our portion refers to those two deaths, I’d like to suggest that death, quite sadly, is all around us. Over 990,000 people in the U.S. have died in the last two years due to COVID. Worldwide, that number is 6.23 million. While COVID...Read more...
The Story of Noah: A Modern Midrash
And God spoke to Noah, and to his children, saying: “Behold, I establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, of the birds, of the cattle, and of every wild animal of the earth with you” (Genesis 9:9).
A modern Midrash: Noah had all manner of living things aboard the ark and was ready for the great Mabul, the great...Read more...
Vayikra 2022
This week we begin a new book of the Torah – Leviticus, called Vayikra in Hebrew. The parasha – Torah portion – is also called Vayikra, and both the book of Torah and the parasha are named for the first key word in the first verse. In this case, it happens to be the first word.
There’s a real oddity to the word as it appears in...Read more...
T’tzaveh 2022
Our Torah portion this week is T’tzaveh. I’m not so concerned about the contents right now – if you want to look into the specifics of what’s in the portion, join us for Torah study tomorrow morning on Zoom at 9:30. The link is in the email you should have received from the office yesterday.
Instead, tonight I am going to speak about the meaning of the word t’tzaveh. In...Read more...
T'rumah 2022
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spektor lived in the 19th century in Lithuania. By all accounts, he was a great rabbi and a great human being. He was a child prodigy who became versed in Talmud at a young age, married at 13, and received rabbinic ordination in his teens. As a rabbi, he was poor and served tiny congregations. Eventually, his brilliant mind became known to the rabbinic leaders in Russia, and he moved to larger...Read more...
B'shelach 2022
As I mentioned at the beginning of our service, this week we celebrate a very special Shabbat – Shabbat Shirah, or the Shabbat of Song. The name comes from text in our Torah portion – the text of the prayer Mi Chamocha. As the Israelites walked through the divided sea, they sang the words, “Who is like You, O God, among the gods who are worshipped? Who is like You, majestic in holiness,...Read more...
Bo 2022
Parashah Bo: United or Not?
This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Bo, opens in the middle of a story, the story that immediately precedes the greatest event in our people’s history. The final three plagues – swarms of locusts, absolute darkness, and the slaying of the first born – are visited upon the Egyptians because of Pharaoh’s continual refusal to let the Israelites leave Egypt.
God does not visit these scourges...Read more...
Vayeitzei 2021
In our parashah for this week, Vayeitzei, we read: “When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or else I die.’”[1]
Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife, suffered from infertility. The emotional pain was so severe that if felt to her that death was the only possible outcome. From this, the ancient Rabbis taught...Read more...
Tol'dot 2021
In this week’s Torah portion, parashah Tol’dot, brothers Jacob and Esau are in a place of conflict for over forty years. At the end of the parashah, their father Isaac sends Jacob away to live with a relative so that Jacob can avoid the death threat of his brother Esau. Just before Jacob leaves, Isaac says to him “Go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethu-el, your...Read more...