Jewish Wisdom on Character and Leadership Amid Political Change
Yet again, I write in response to unfolding developments in one of the most eventful months in electoral politics in modern American history, with reverberations for the Jewish community, for Israel, and for the world. Never in modern history has a sitting president, eligible for another term of office, decided not to run for re-election […]
Balancing Humility and Responsibility
In this past week’s Torah portion, Moses relates the experience of the 40-year journey the Israelites have made to the generation of Israelites who stand on the brink of the Promised Land. They are getting ready to enter it without Moses, who will no longer be by their side. It comes in Sefer Devarim, the […]
Balancing Compassion and Critique: A Yom Kippur Perspective on Israel
Dear Friends, I’m sometimes reminded of the adage about Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, that it has the capacity to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. That is, some of us go through life and are so hard on ourselves; day in, day out we find ourselves filled with self-recrimination and regret, focusing […]
Journeys of the Past and Present — Insights from Parashat Masei
This past Shabbat we studied Parashat Masei, which means something like “travels” or “stages”. It is the last portion in the Sefer Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers, the fourth of five books of the Torah. In it, the “travels” being referred to comprise a deliberate and thorough recounting of all of the geographical stages the […]
One Thing I Ask
This past week, as part of our celebrating our first Bat Mitzvah of the year (Mazal Tov, Madeleine Wilson!), I shared the following D’var Torah: In a few moments, we’re going to sing a verse of a psalm that anchors us in the season in which we find ourselves, the season of the Yamim Nora’im, […]
Independence and Responsibility: A 4th of July Message from Rabbi Kamesar
Independence and Responsibility: A 4th of July Message from Rabbi Kamesar I write this on the cusp of the 4th of July, the date commemorating the establishment of the United States of America through the ratification by the Continental Congress of the Declaration of Independence, a mere three blocks from Society Hill Synagogue. It is […]
Making Sense of the World
What follows is the D’var Torah I delivered this past Shabbat on how theology can sometimes help us make sense of the world: Are you there, God? It’s me, Nathan Kamesar. One of the questions I ask week after week, and really moment after moment is, where is God in this? Where is […]
T’shuvah and the Margin for Error
I’d like to share with you the D’var Torah I shared Friday night in advance of Abigail Hamilton’s beautiful Bat Mitzvah celebration this past Shabbat: There’s a phrase that’s been floating around in the public consciousness lately that has been resonating with me on a number of levels in this season of t’shuvah, of repentance […]
Rabbi’s Remarks from our Congregation Annual Meeting
Dear Friends, What follows are the remarks I delivered at this year’s Congregational Annual Meeting, reflecting back on an incredible year of contributions from, and on behalf of, Jewish community in general, and this community in particular. Thank you. What a year it has been. I began my time as Rabbi of Society Hill Synagogue […]
Navigating the Eternal and Temporal in Jewish Practice
First I want to share a word about how I approach Divrei Torah — this practice of writing reflections based on Jewish text, tradition, and history — differently during the week than for Shabbat. On Shabbat, the emphasis is more on the Eternal: what are the ways that the Divine, as manifest in our sacred […]