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As we prepare for the High Holy Days, what difficult things do you need to say to God?  Covenantal relationship must be able to hold it all. The anger and the disappointment, the heartbreak and the rebuke.

We say Psalm 27 100 times in the High Holy day season. Why?

Six beloved hostages were executed in a tunnel beneath Rafah, leaving behind broken-hearted loved ones and a shattered nation. We must be clear about who is responsible.

At this time of year in our Jewish calendar, we are in a season of second chances. We are reading Moshe's retelling of the people's journey through the desert in Deuteronomy, and we are about to enter into the month of Elul, the month of spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days. It is also the moment when Moshe went back up the mountain to get the second set of tablets - the ultimate story of second chances. We are about to start our own month of reflection and repair - let's see what we can do.

Water is not only a building block of life, but also of culture. How we receive water shapes our consciousness and has the potential to remind us of the ultimate truth of our existence: we are always, and inevitably, dependent.

Source Sheet: https://ikar.app.box.com/s/rtmn38bq994apeql50rea60v1irkvvsg An extraordinary rabbinic story re-imagines the final conversation between Moses and God, exploring core questions foundational to the human experience.  What happens in the moment of death?  And, what peace can be found when learning to let go?

Some years, the mourning and reflection of Tisha b’Av can feel performative. This year, it will be deeply personal. Even as we approach the abyss, we must remember the redemptive vision planted deep within our souls. Parashat Devarim, Shabbat Hazon -- 5784

Sermon from 8.3.2024 / Matot-Masei 5784

This week we find ourselves freed from some of the defeatism and despair that was taking root these last weeks and months. And now, with a bit of renewed hope, we have so much work to do. In the parsha we see a model of a collective that includes everyone and centers marginalized and unexpected groups. This moment demands we show up, no matter what that looks like. Find a way in - this fight will take all of us.  

The sense of defeatism, all too present after the events in this country over the last week, is the most dangerous myth threatening our future right now.  To throw up our hands and surrender to the myth of inevitability is to relinquish the most precious gift given to humanity: our capacity to change the world around us.  We can be scared without being resigned.  We can be exhausted without being fatalistic.  We can be discouraged but nonetheless courageous.  

When we roll open the sacred Torah, what we see is monochrome. Pale parchment, dark ink, black, and white. Which are the only colors the human being can see when we are born. If today's parsha had a color, it would be red. Click here to see the painting Hope, by George Frederick Watts, painted in 1886: https://www.wikiart.org/en/george-frederick-watts/hope-1886

We are living in a world that is broken and painful. It is a moment to turn towards the angels within us and around us in order to find our way through.

Our family is broken. Please, God, help us heal.

Every ounce of our energy must advance a vision of peace.  There is no other way to rebuild a society in ruins.  Our God, and God of our ancestors. Our God, and God of our descendants.  Grant us peace.  

A special discussion with author Mickey Bergman about his book, In the Shadows: True Stories of High-Stakes Negotiations to Free Americans Captured Abroad.

A warning, from our dark and pained past: remember, even when confronted by external enemies, it is the extremism in our own Jewish community that poses the most potent threat to our survival. We are at an inflection point: will we again fall prey to the zealots?

Source Sheet https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/568347?lang=bi Full class: https://youtu.be/xCIiAkZDSGQ

A tribute to some of the many moments with this beautiful community that have changed me over the past 16 years.

Source sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/566742?lang=bi Watch the Full Class: https://youtu.be/FRhY5TSlsqo

Source Sheet: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/404083?lang=biWatch the Full Class: https://youtu.be/YrP-HnwjiNc