I’m thrilled you are exploring Society Hill Synagogue and have found your way to the page of Divrei Torah, words of Torah, which are part of a generations-long Jewish practice of refracting sacred Jewish teachings through the light of our own day and age.
For me, Judaism is an opportunity to nourish ourselves, grounded in the Jewish story: a story that has unfolded throughout the generations, with twists and turns, tragedy and triumph, serving as a source of life to those who engage with it.
The Jewish People are known as B’nei Yisrael: the people who wrestle with the Divine. The name comes from that moment in our tradition in which it is understood that our ancestor Jacob “wrestled with a figure,” a figure understood to be a manifestation of that very Divine Being (see Genesis 32).
That moment produced a legacy of sacred wrestling; grappling; seeking to make meaning of, and find purpose in, our time on earth.
These Divrei Torah are my efforts, in conversation with the community of Society Hill Synagogue, to make meaning and to find purpose, seeking to serve this community, our broader world, and the Divine.
I hope you find meaning in them yourself, and I encourage you to reach out to me if you would like to discuss their contents or to discuss becoming a part of the Society Hill Synagogue community. Welcome!
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The Golden Calf: From What Are We Distracting Ourselves?
Dear Friends, This past week at our Shabbat morning Torah discussion, which falls midway through the service for about half an hour each week at approximately 10:30 am, we discussed that it was Shabbat Parah—the special Shabbat in advance of Pesach (Passover), which, in ancient times,
Moses’ Stammering Voice: A Jewish Paradigm for Disability
I wanted to begin by offering the D’var Torah I shared this past Friday night—something I offer every week at our musical Friday night Shabbat services from 6-7:15 followed by dinner in our social hall. This past week it was in the context of our
Building the Mishkan: Ongoing Efforts to Strengthen and Grow Our Community
Continuing the theme of my past Kesher articles, our ongoing efforts, as this headline says, to strengthen and grow this community, I wanted to share updates on our latests priorities and efforts to address them: *** As I’ve suggested in the past, I look to
Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat of Remembrance: Reflections on a Challenging New Year in Israel
This Shabbat is a special Shabbat known as Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat of memory. Now, that can encompass many features of Jewish, and human, existence, but Shabbat Zachor, at least on the face of it, refers to a very specific, and somewhat challenging, memory. It comes from
Solace for the Eagles Fans
With all the challenges in the world it may seem frivolous to open up my weekly D’var Torah with a missive about the Philadelphia Eagles, but, if the Inquirer’s front page headlines are any indication, that is where our community members’ hearts are. Tuesday’s headline
What Covenant Can Mean To Us • Boundaries, People!
I want to share the D’var Torah I delivered this past Friday night on the week’s parashah, on the eve of our student Alex Howe’s Bar mitzvah: I was drawn to a very specific part of this week’s parashah, this week’s Torah portion. Perhaps you’ll
Earthquake Response
What a devastating week it’s been around the world. The numbers of dead and missing coming out of Turkey and Syria as a result of the earthquakes there are overwhelming. At the time of this writing the death toll has surpassed 15,000, with many more
Refugee Shabbat • Song of the Sea
I know I say this to all the B’nei Mitzvah students, Yul, but you really have a special parashah. So much so that your shabbat has a special name—Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat of Song. Named, of course, after Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea—the
What Can the Plague of Darkness Teach Us?
This week, during Shabbat morning’s Torah discussion, we studied the ten plagues, and in particular the plague of darkness. The conversation centered around how to understand what took place during the plague of darkness and what the Torah is trying to teach us in its
Rest as a Form of Sacred Offering
There is a phrase that comes from the silent amidah, the silent standing prayer at the core of our worship service on Shabbat that has become something of a mantra for me as I seek to navigate Shabbat each week. That phrase is found on
The Four Types of Freedom
When the Israelites are down, God says to Moses, “Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am יהוה. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. And I will take you to be
What Does it Mean to Be “Redeemed”?
I wanted to begin by sharing with you the d’var torah (Torah-based teaching) I offered this past Friday night at Shabbat services, something that I do most every Friday night mixed into our musically-infused service, which is always followed by a community dinner and always preceded by
The “Uniquely-American Problem”
One core element of freedom, by any definition, is the freedom to not be in perpetual fear for one’s safety and the safety of one’s loved ones. The week-in-week-out—often day-in-day-out—episodes off mass gun violence we’ve seen in this country so far this year, capped off
Cries for Help Can Help: How We Shape Our Vessels
This week’s parasha [Torah portion], is shemot, the first portion of the Book of Exodus. The book begins by letting us know that the individual family with whom we became deeply acquainted in the Book of Bereshit, the Book of Genesis, has now blossomed into a people, an am, a nation,
Nose to the Grindstone/Head to the Stars • the Love of Grandparents
This week’s parasha is vayehi. “He lived.” Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, the Torah portion tells us, after he had migrated there with the rest of his family to be reunited with Joseph—Joseph the eldest son of Jacob’s beloved late wife Rachel, Joseph whom