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...
From the Rabbi’s Study A Ship’s Waves–Then and Seventy-Five Years Later In 1946, a ship, the USS President Warfield, was bought for $8,028 by the Western Trading Company to be used as scrap. She originally carried passengers across the Chesapeake Bay. During much of WWII, she was a training...
From the Rabbi’s Study The Passion in Compassion As a member of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust, Cantor Isaac Goodfriend[1] joined his colleagues in a tour of a number of concentration camps and other sites. During the tour he visited the Polish farmer who had hidden him and...
Inclusion is a strong Jewish value and yet it has often been a challenge to put into practice. We are all welcoming but in what ways do we welcome others? In this intriguing presentation we will hear about how Judaism welcomes and embraces all Jews, including the LGBTQ community, people...
Dear Am HaYam Family, It is with heavy heart that we approach Shabbat, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We are concerned about the potential for this conflict to deepen. We are concerned about the potential for other countries to enter the conflict on one side of the other. We are...
From the Rabbi’s Study Indispensable in Our Small Parts Humans seem to have evolved from common ancestors. Scientist point to homo habilus.“handy man,” and others that are part of the homo grouping, known for their brain size and structure, and their use of tools. Homo habilus existed between 1.4 million...