God’s Humanity: Strengthening the Relationship

Yom Kippur Sermon 5785 I want to share with you one of my favorite, and one of the most personally impactful, rabbinic teachings that I’ve ever encountered. An allusion is made to it in the final blessing of services today, and if you were reading closely just now in the margins of the page, you […]

Discerning the Call. And Following Through.

Kol Nidrei 5785 For me, becoming a rabbi was a calling. I can still remember a moment that I unequivocally felt the call. I was a college senior, out for a meal with my cousin who was a college junior, and she asked me that most obvious question that is asked of all soon-to-be-graduates: what […]

The Jewish Story: Resounding Through the Shofar

Rosh Hashanah 5785 This year has changed my relationship to what it means to be Jewish. Every year, during the High Holidays, I give a sermon, in one version or another, making the case for getting more deeply connected to Jewish communal life.  I make this case because I genuinely believe in it. I have […]

How to Pray, I Think

Tallitot in our sanctuary

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5785 I want to start my teaching this evening with one of the most well-worn stories of the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, about a boy and his flute.¹ When Rabbi Israel was about to enter into his synagogue in Medziboz, he stopped outside the door and said, “I cannot go […]

Facing Life’s Big Questions this Rosh Hashanah

I’m writing to share the D’var Torah, the words of Torah, I offered this past Friday night on the eve of celebrating a young person in our community, Arielle Schwartz, becoming Bat Mitzvah. It comes on the eve of a moment in our own life cycle as a community, the eve of Rosh Hashanah, a […]