Thoughts on Parashat Chayei Sarah

Unfortunately, one of my senior-congregant from my synagogue, Temple Beth Shalom, Bill Milman, passed away a week ago. He was buried on Sunday and then I led the shiva minyan for a few days to support his wife and family. On one of the evenings his wife, Ann, reflected on the beginnings of the Tot Shabbat program at my temple. She poignantly noted that our focus should not be only on preserving tradition or catering to the preferences of longtime members, but rather on genuinely understanding and responding to the needs of today’s parents and their children. Her words resonated deeply with…

Thoughts on parashat Noach 5785

At the end of parashat Noach we have a story of the T ower of Babel. This story has been and
can be understood in a variety of ways. Let me suggest yet another take on it, starting with the
following statement: The T ower of Babel represents an overgrown hierarchy in society. The
existence of hierarchy like that, in a completely natural way, increases the distance between the
strata in society, between the classes in the society and creates a situation in which those on
top begin to speak a different language than those on the bottom. Language is understood here
metaphorically as a means of communication that is lost.

Reflection on Sukkot 5785

You’re probably familiar with the expression “a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” That was told to young women of bygone generations to encourage them to learn how to cook well so that they could “catch” a man. Well, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches, the same is true of coming close to God – The way to your neshamah (soul) is through your stomach as well, through the feeling you feel in both, your soul and your stomach.

Erev Yom Kippur 5785 Sermon

First, let me start with a little introduction. We live in times of war, terrible war. Our brothers and sisters in our homeland, Israel, experience it and are scared everyday. I will think of them and pray for them today, which I encourage or don’t actually need to encourage you. But the topic of this drasha won’t be related to the situation in Israel. Yom Kippur is a holiday of introspection. We look inside us, to do the final analysis of our transgressions, our wrongdoings, our moral condition and generally the time of self-assessment. It’s not about what’s going on in the world, it’s about what’s going on inside us. For this exact reason we fast – we don’t eat, we don’t drink, we don’t have marital relations, we don’t even wash (except for health and some rabbinic authorities allow – for hygienic reasons). It is all meant to strengthen our spiritual, internal self against our physical self, to weaken the physical self, which is often stronger than the spiritual one[…]

Thoughts on Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelech 5784

The Torah is actually not metaphysical. Yes, She mentions God very often but does not elaborate much about the Divine nature (except a few passages here and there). Metaphysics is not something the Torah is focused on. Her main focus is practical – to give us a moral and ritual code that will guide us on the path of righteousness and holiness. All of what I just said has a clear expression in our Torah portion for this week:[…]

Thoughts on parashat Ki Tetze 5784

Let me start our reflection with quoting some laws from our Torah portion:

In the case of a virgin who is engaged to someone —if another man comes upon her in town and lies with her, you shall take the two of them out to the gate of that town and stone them to death: the girl because she did not cry for help in the town, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus you will sweep away evil from your midst.[…]