Shavuot Yizkor: We Are Never Finished (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on June 13, 2024) Q: Why couldn’t the prisoner stop talking? A: He couldn’t finish his sentence. I had a clock for lunch earlier. I couldn’t finish it, it was time consuming. My therapist told me the way to achieve inner […]
Parashat B’midbar Sinai: Counting and the Severity of Compassion (d’var Torah delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on June 7, 2024) The Book of Numbers begins with a head count of the entire Jewish People, before they depart from their Sinai encampment, on the way to the Promised Land. Moses organizes this massive endeavor, with the […]
Parashat Emor: When One Struggles to Celebrate (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on 5/17/24) While tomorrow’s reading contains one of the Torah’s discussions of holidays and instructions for their observances, rabbinic literature provides guidance for their observance in the context of the complexities of the participants’ lives, even those who might be struggling to celebrate. […]
Pesach Yizkor: Empty Chairs at Empty Tables (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on April 30, 2024) (Singing:) “There’s a grief that can’t be spoken There’s a pain goes on and on. Empty chairs at empty tables Now my friends are dead and gone”…… Eight days ago we all sat around our seder tables where […]
First Morning Rosh HaShanah: Managing Transitions (delivered by Rabbi Sacks on September 16, 2023) My roommate tells me: “I think it’s time we address the elephant in the room.” I respond: “Okay, where are we sending it?” I bought my friend an elephant for his room. He said, “Thanks.” I said, “Don’t mention it.” On […]
Erev Rosh HaShanah: Practice, Priorities, People (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on September 15, 2023) In 2009 archaeologists unearthed an ancient synagogue in the city of Migdal on the Sea of Galilee. It was established over 2,000 years ago. It’s fascinating. The Jewish community of ancient Migdal built a synagogue at a time when Jewish […]
Shabbat Chol HaMoed Pesach: Freedom–Use It Or Lose It (A d’var Torah delivered by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on April 8, 2023) On this third day of Pesach,we continue to celebrate how we went ,מִעַבְדוּת לְחֵרוּת from slavery to freedom. As we read in the Haggadah on seder night from Deuteronomy 26: וַיּוֹצִאֵנוּ יְהֹוָה מִמִּצְרַיִם […]
Parashat Vayakhel-P’kudei: What Makes a Sanctuary? (A Torah discussion led by Maayan Lev on 3/18/2023) [NOTE: For our discussion this past Shabbat, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to have a town hall of sorts. I wanted to really ask the congregation how they felt about things. It was important to hear from […]
Parashat Vayeshev: The Bullies Among Us (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on December 16, 2022) Tears can be good or bad. The worst tears of all accompany a child’s death. In this week’s portion, Vayeshev, Jacob experiences such tears when his older sons bring him the blood-soaked “coat of many colors,” which Jacob personally made […]
Erev Sukkot: The Three Jewish Pigs (Delivered by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on October 9, 2022) Chag Samei-ach! It’s a great joy to be together tonight in the sukkah, a sukkah whose invisible branches criss-cross for miles around, creating a web-based canopy above our heads. But is this just a joke? Does an online sukkah […]