Sermons Archives - Page 45 of 69

An Ephemeral Booth or a Lasting Legacy?

By Rabbi Mati Kirschenbaum 09/28/2018 Leave a Comment Filed Under: Sermons

How Should We View Our Lives? During Sukkot we read the Book of Ecclesiastes, which seems to claim that human life is equally ephemeral as the Sukkot booths which we build. Kohelet describes the transient character of human achievements in the following way: [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]So, too, I loathed all […]

Sukkot

By Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild 09/26/2018 Leave a Comment Filed Under: Holidays, Sermons

SEPTEMBER 2018, Beit Polska – The festival of Sukkot, following on the full moon so shortly after the end of Yom Kippur and the lengthy period of repentance and meditation and teshuvah, is always a difficult one in some respects because one has just done so much praying and then comes the command ”Be happy!” […]

Is Progress Actually Always Progress?

By Menachem Mirski PhD 09/21/2018 Leave a Comment Filed Under: Sermons

Thoughts on Parashat Haazinu [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]They incensed Him with alien things, Vexed Him with abominations. They sacrificed to demons, no-gods, Gods they had never known, New ones, who came but lately, Who stirred not your fathers’ fears. You neglected the Rock that begot you, Forgot the God who brought […]

Yom Kippur Morning

By Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild 09/21/2018 Leave a Comment Filed Under: Holidays, Sermons

Revelation And Mercy What does it mean to encounter God? How and where and when can one encounter God? How can one encounter a Being, a Concept? For some a Reality that cannot be described, for others a Myth that does not deserve consideration? What sort of encounter is even possible, between a finite being […]

Kol Nidre

By Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild 09/20/2018 Leave a Comment Filed Under: Holidays, Sermons

We start our Day of Atonement with a strange request, one which even comes in different formats and one which has caused much confusion, not to mention hostility from those who always seek an excuse to be hostile. The ‘Kol Nidre’ prayer is a request to God to forgive either the sins we have committed, […]

Yom Kippur 2018

By Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild 09/20/2018 1 Comment Filed Under: Holidays, Sermons

JONAH My favourite part of the Book of Jonah is Chapter Five. You won’t find it in the printed editions, because it is a chapter – thanks to a form of ”Interactive Narrative Composition” – that the reader, each reader has to supply for themselves. So it is never the same twice. Its main theme […]