Kol Nidrei 5782: Trauma
A couple of weeks ago, a rabbinic colleague of mine offered a suggestion to rabbis across the globe: What if on Kol Nidrei, as we stood before our congregations to deliver our sermons, we simply cried for ten minutes?
I gave it serious consideration.
As I contemplate our world, our country, our state, our community, I just want to weep. COVID...Read more...
Rosh Hashanah 5782 Day 2: D'var Torah
The video version is linked at the end of the D'var text.
Shana tova. My name is Morissa Sobelson Henn, and I am honored to have been asked to speak this morning. I grew up in Concord, nurtured by the TBJ family. Over the past two decades, as I’ve moved from apartments in Boston and Brooklyn to Salt Lake City, my continued membership at TBJ has helped me stay connected to...Read more...
Rosh Hashanah 5782 Day 1: Boundaries
As the Israelites begin their wanderings in the wilderness – after spending two years at Mount Sinai – they were instructed on how to carry and transport the mishkanthey had built, the tabernacle that housed the tablets, along with the holy items used for their sacrifices. The regular Levites immediately surrounded the mishkan, north, west, and south, with the east reserved for Moses,...Read more...
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5782: Déjà Vu? Lessons Learned?
Here we are again, attending our primary High Holy Day services online. A year ago, I would not have believed it if someone had said that 5782 would be a repeat of 5781. But it is. The Delta variant of COVID is making its way across our globe and nation, raising the previously low new infections rates, and infecting both vaccinated and unvaccinated. Yes, the unvaccinated are a much higher risk of getting infected...Read more...
Yom Kippur Morning 5781 – Life
The singer and songwriter Jewel Kilcher penned these words:
And lend your voices only to sounds of freedom.
No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from.
Fill your lives with love and bravery and you shall lead a life uncommon.
Life.
In Judaism we learn that the greatest mitzvah one can perform is p’ku-ach nefesh, to save a life. A Shabbat-observant Jew must violate the laws of Shabbat if in...Read more...
Kol Nidrei 5781 – Gratitude
A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which read, “I am blind, please help if you can.”
Only a few coins were in the hat – spare change from folks as they hurried past. A woman stopped. She took a few coins from her purse and dropped them into the hat. She then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. She put the sign back in the boy’s hand for everyone to...Read more...
Rosh Hashanah 5781 Day 1 – Beauty
In February of 2018, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNIESCO) and the European Broadcasting Union chose the Matisyahu hit song One Day as the theme song for the eighth edition of World Radio Day. World Radio Day “marks a time when people around the world celebrate radio and how it shapes lives,” according to a statement from UNESCO. The theme in 2018 was “Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace.” The song...Read more...
Erev RH 5781 – Peace
For my first year of rabbinical school studies, I lived in Jerusalem. Jerusalem probably has more synagogues per capita than any other place in the world. You can find every denomination, every trans-planted community from across the globe, and every language. In the first few months I lived in Jerusalem I went to services often. And as the cantorial class groupie, I attended services with Shira and her classmates to hear liturgical music...Read more...