Shemini 5784 April 6, 2024
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...
Tzav-Parah 5784 March 30, 2024
Shabbat Shalom
With Purim in our rear-view mirror, we begin to look ahead to Pesach. We celebrate Purim with much joy and merriment. The Jewish community was in grave danger and Mordechai and Queen Esther saved us from destruction. It was one more near miss of our destruction in the long history of Judaism.
Pesach is more of a foundational story....Read more...
Vayikra 5784 March 23, 2024
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...
Pekuday 5784 March 16, 2024
Shabbat Shalom,
This week’s parsha, Pekuday, marks the end of a series of readings that I often connect with various professions. Teruma is for Architects, Tetzeveh is for Fashion Designers, Ki Tissa is for Tax Collectors and, last week, Vayakel is the parsha for those in the Construction industry and for Tailors. Pekuday is the Parsha for Accountants. Moses gives a strict...Read more...
Teruma 5784 February 17, 2024
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...
Beshallach, Delivered on Parshat Yitro 5784 February 3, 2024
Shabbat Shalom
The People of Israel have come a long way as they sing on the shore of the Sea of Reeds in our Parsha this week. Their song is one of joy and victory. Their greatest fear had been an attack by the army of Egypt. God sent Israel out of Egypt by a route that will avoid the former slaves from having to fight a war against Egypt. God, however, sends the people on a path...Read more...
Vaera 5784 January 13, 2024
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...
Shemot 5784 January 6,2024
Shabbat Shalom
Voldemort- Tom Riddle – If you have read any of the Harry Potter books, you know that this is the name of the evil sorcerer who believes that the only thing that prevents him from taking over the world is Harry Potter, who has somehow never been a victim of his evil magic. He is so feared by the wizarding world in the book that most of the people refuse to even say his name. They just refer...Read more...
Miketz 5784 December 16, 2023
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...
Vayeshev 5784 December 9, 2023
I had the privilege to attend the 2023 Convening of Conservative Judaism this past week. This was the first gathering of our movement since the pandemic three years ago. It was not just a convention of Rabbis, but it convened members of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ), The Cantors Assembly, United Synagogue Youth, and the Rabbinical Assembly. There were over eight hundred representatives of our movement in Baltimore, MD...Read more...
Vayislach 5784 December 2, 2023
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...
Vayechi 5784 November 25, 2023
Shabbat Shalom,
I first want to thank Maury and Carol and all those who filled in for me while I was sick last week. We are blessed indeed to have talented members who can fill in when I am sick. I am grateful for their help and for all your wishes for my speedy recovery.
Bex Stern Rosenblatt, in her D’var Torah for the Conservative Yeshiva,...Read more...
Toldot 5784 November 18th, 2023
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...
Lech Lecha 5784 October 28, 2023
Shabbat Shalom (Peace God, please God!)
Let me say this, right off the bat; I am not a military strategist. I am not a political junkie. I don’t spend my days looking into every detail of what is happening in the Middle East, not because I don’t care, but because I have a congregation that I am responsible for. I am just a rabbi and I teach people the difference between good and evil, right and wrong....Read more...
Noach 5784 October 21, 2023
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...
Berayshit 5784 October 14, 2023
Shabbat Shalom – (Oh how I wish there would be Shalom!)
Since this is Parshat Berayshit, let us take this from the Beginning. Cain kills his brother Abel. God gives Cain a chance to own up to what he has done, “Where is your brother Abel?” Cain does not reply “I killed him”, “I hated him”, “I didn’t like that he was better than me”. Cain says, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” “How...Read more...
Shemini Atzeret 5784 October 7th, 2023
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...
Sukkot II 5784 October 1, 2023
Hag Sameach
Today we finally get to take in our hands our Lulav and Etrog so we can fully celebrate this unique festival of Sukkot. The Torah commands us to take palm branches and willow branches as well as two other more obscure plants, “leafy trees” and the fruit of the “hadar” tree. It was the later Sages, trying to make sense of this command, who determined that myrtle...Read more...
Sukkot 5784 September 30, 2023
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...
Yom Kippur 5784 September 25, 2023
Gemar Tov-May we all have a good finish for this day.
I would like to start today with a little bit of Meditation. Get comfortable in your chair; let your body relax (I am not going to scold you for anything today) and breathe normally. Try really hard not to think about anything you forgot to do or anything you are planning to do. Just breathe in and out and feel this moment as it passes by. (pause)
Read more...
Kol Nidre 5784 September 24, 2023
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...
Haazinu 5784 September 23, 2023
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Art Green, a long-time beloved teacher of mine gave a Devar Torah for Rosh Hashana and I want to use some excerpts from his teaching this morning. He teaches:
I heard from the Maggid a parable he offered before the shofar sounding:
A king sent his beloved children to a far-off country. They spent long years there, exiled
from their father’s table. But they were constantly concerned with...Read more...
Rosh Hashana II 5784 September 17, 2023
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...
Rosh Hashana I 5784 September 16, 2023
As a historian, I have always been fascinated by Time. Historians get to watch the wheels of time turn, as we humans repeat age after age the lessons of life we refuse to learn. Even when we learn our lessons, it takes only a generation or two to forget them and start the cycle all over again. We like to think of...Read more...
Nitzavim – Vayelech 5783 September 9th, 2023
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...
Ki Tavo 5783 September 2, 2023
Shabbat Shalom.
The Torah spends a lot of time talking about Justice. Just a couple of weeks ago we were commanded to always pursue justice. Justice does not happen by itself; we need to do the work to ensure that justice is fair for everyone. In the Book of Leviticus there are very specific rules for judges; they have to be fair to the rich and poor alike. Justice does not mean feeling sorry for one side or...Read more...
Ki Teze 5783 August 26, 2023
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...
Shoftim 5783 August 19, 2023
Shabbat Shalom
This week’s Parsha is about judges. I have given sermons over the past weeks about the issues with judges in the United States and the issues with judges that are being played out in Israel. There really isn’t any reason for me to do the obvious thing and summarize it all with the words of Parshat Shoftim.
But Rabbi Eli Kaunfer, from Yeshivat Hadar in...Read more...
Re’eh 5783 August 12, 2023
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...