Dear Am HaYam family, I wanted to follow-up my initial response to last Saturday’s brutal attacks on Israel. As you know the attacks came not only on Shabbat, but on the holy day of Sh’mini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. At the time of writing this (Wednesday evening) more than 1,200...
Dear Am HaYam Family: We have all been in agony since hearing the news of the coordinated Hamas terror attacks on Israel on the holy day of Sh’mini Atzeret/Simchat Torah. While we celebrated both days on Shabbat, for many Jews outside of Israel, the holy day period actually ended Sunday...
The biblical figure of Joseph is very good at waiting. Not in his youth, of course: the young Joseph cannot help but blurt out his dreams, no matter how offensive they might be to his listeners. With the hard knocks of living, however, he learns the art and wisdom of...
Rabbi’s Recent Letter to Our Am HaYam Family Dear Am HaYam Family, On a recent Shabbat, we read in the Torah, Parashat Va-Et-chanan, the following: וָאֶתְחַנַּ֖ן אֶל־יְהֹוָ֑ה בָּעֵ֥ת הַהִ֖וא לֵאמֹֽר׃ I [Moses] sought out myself to G!d at that time. Rabbi Israel Salanter, the great 19th-century figure, posed the question,...
As the saying goes, spring has sprung. And, for many folks, with spring comes spring cleaning. Of course, with spring also comes Pesach (Passover). To me, that’s no coincidence. There is nothing quite like having to clean the house for Passover. The process of kashering the home for the holiday...
A story emerged from Russia years ago that expresses a truth about Jewish life and the importance of Israel. The secret police in the Soviet Union knocked upon the door of a Russian Jew. They accused him of corresponding with a foreign agent named Rabinovitz in the state of Israel....
Tu B’Shvat And The Lorax by Maayan Lev Tu B’Shevat, the New Year Of The Trees, is approaching (February 5-6). It functions much like a Jewish Arbor Day. There are many ways to mark this day. You can plant trees. You can have a Tu B’shevat seder (as we will...
In the United States, we recently passed the second year anniversary of the events of January 6, 2021, when people from all over the country came armed to Washington, D.C. and interfered with the lawful and peaceful transition of power by storming the U.S. Capitol building. The mob was seeking to...
Every year on Yom Kippur we have two CAH members speak. For the first talk, Rabbi Sacks each year invites a member of the Congregation to speak about Am HaYam and how it has affected their life. This year’s personal talk was given by Neal Abramson. Neal Abramson is a...
What Today’s Dedication Means (Remarks delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks at the dedication of Congregation Beth Shalom’s new synagogue space in Palm Desert on September 11, 2022)[1] Good afternoon! What a wonderful occasion for us to gather, the dedication of a new home for Congregation Beth Shalom, a new home...
