Sermons

Shabbat Shalom

This week’s parsha is most famous for the tragedy that happened on the first day that the priests operated the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary that our ancestors erected in the wilderness. For seven days Moses has filled the duties of the priests as they are installed into their new holy duties. The first day that the priests take over the sacrificial duties is suddenly marred when a fire...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom

We are about halfway through the part of the Torah that drags us through the weeds of Judaism. How to build a Mishkan, building a Mishkan, and now, in Parshat Vayikra and the next two parshiyot, what we are supposed to DO in a Mishkan. The action-packed stories of Genesis and the story of the Exodus have ended and now we have the murky details about how this relationship with God, a...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom.

The final third of the Book of Exodus reports all the information needed to plan and build the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary that would become the centerpiece of the Israelite camp. With only a small break in the text to record the incident of the Golden Calf, the blueprints, architectural plans, the patterns for the priestly garments, and the construction details of the project will fill...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom

In this week’s parsha, Vaera, the battle between two men is joined. It is really a battle between the false gods of Egypt and the God of Israel. It is a battle between slavers and the enslaved. It is a battle between Egypt and the People of Israel. But most of all it is a battle between brothers. Moses and Pharoah were both raised in the palace; They are...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom

If we read the entire parsha last week we would see Joseph at the lowest moment in his life. The boy who received the many-colored coat of leadership from his father, was later thrown into the pit, sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused of sexual assault by the lady of the house, thrown into prison, and forgotten by the one man who could have saved him. Alone and forgotten, he sits...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbis have been reading Parashat Vayishlach for thousands of years. Rabbis like to spend the time talking about the escape Jacob and his family made from his uncle Lavan. They like to talk about the wrestling with an angel in the middle of the night. They like to talk about the new name that Jacob received, no longer the trickster but Israel, the one who wrestles with God. They spend time...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom,

From the beginning of our Parsha, Jacob and Esau cannot get along. They fight even in Rivka’s womb. She has such a terrible pregnancy that she wishes she could die. Then she finds out that the twins that she carries will be enemies their entire lives, but the younger one will dominate the elder.

And that is how it will all play...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom (the shalom can’t come fast enough)

My friend, Rabbi Mordechai Silverstein lives in Jerusalem and is living through the nightmare that life there has become. My prayers for the safety of all those in Israel includes him and his family. I have made it a point to be a sponsor of his commentary and I often find gems in his writings that I sometimes pass on to all of you. Today is such a day. In...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameach

Peggy Newton is the chair of the Woodbridge Farm committee that oversees the historic farmstead just down the road, the farm where we go to observe Tashlich on Rosh Hashana. It has a beautiful stream that runs through it and every year, when I ask permission to use the stream she always lets me know how high the water is running. If we have had a long...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameach

Zeh HaYom Asah H’ Nagila V’Nismecha Bo – This is the Day that God has made; We shall celebrate and Rejoice in it.

This is a verse from the Book of Psalms. It comes toward the end of Hallel. It was also the verse that Michelle and I used on the invitation to our wedding some 46 years ago. We did not have an elaborate invitation. It was...Read more...

Our Greeting Tonight is Tzom Kal; May you have an easy fast.

How long did you prepare to be here this evening? You had to prepare the pre-fast dinner of course, although it should have been a simple healthy meal, not too spicy or elaborate. After all, we will not be eating again for 25 hours so dinner had to be nutritious and filling. But besides that, how long ago did you plan on what you wanted to wear for...Read more...

L’shana Tova, may we be blessed with a Sweet New Year.

Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav, the grandson of the Baal Shem Tov and the leader of the Hasidim of Bratzlav who was born at just about the same time as the Revolutionary War between Great Britian and what would become the United States, taught to his students what would become a very famous proverb. He said, “The entire world is like a narrow bridge. The...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom

The story goes that a man, in a business suit, is sitting on a train and across from him is a tall man with a long beard, a black hat and long frock coat. They travel for a while in silence but the man in the suit finally erupts in anger. “I don’t understand why you Jews have to dress differently than everyone else. Why can’t you be a Jew like me? A modern man in modern dress; why do you...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom

 Rabbi Jill Jacobs is the Executive Director of an organization called, Teruah, A Rabbinic Response for Human Rights. While I do support this organization, I do have my differences with them. It is an organization of rabbis that are on the far left of the political spectrum and while I, myself, lean left, I believe that sometimes those on the left are so ideologically motivated that they...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom

For the past couple of weeks, I have tried to put some of the political news into a Judaic framework to help us understand how our religion deals with the issues of our day. But at this time of year, as the days count down to the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, the real work that we need to concentrate on is not the work of the talking heads on television and cable news, but it is the work...Read more...