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 […]
Rosh HaShanah Second Day: The Tree and You (A Community Discussion led by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on September 27, 2022) We just put the Torah away, and the last words we sang were the Eitz Chayyim Hi. It is actually sung whenever we read the Torah. The chumash that we usually use to follow […]
Rosh HaShanah First Morning: Listening to All Our Voices (Delivered by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on September 26, 2022) It’s so wonderful to be with all of you in this new year, the year 5783. This is my first time being at Congregation Am HaYam for Rosh HaShanah, and it’s so wonderful to start the […]
Haftarat Shoftim: Do You Hear The Herald? (A discussion led by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on September 3, 2022) This week’s haftarah is the fourth of the seven haftarot of consolation following Tish’ah B’Av. Like the others, it comes from Deutero-Isaiah.[1] The text comforts the exiled Israelites, telling them that the day is coming […]
Haftarat Eikev: The Evolution of G-d (as We Know Them) (A discussion led by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on August 20, 2022) We just read this week’s haftarah,[1] the second of the Seven Haftarot of Consolation, read during the seven weeks following Tishah B’Av. The Haftarah opens in Isaiah 49:14 with the words: וַתֹּאמֶר צִיּוֹן: […]
Parashat Eikev: Hearing The Silent Shema (delivered by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on August 19, 2022) It’s so wonderful to be with you all once again after a meaningful summer break in Israel. While Rosh HaShanah is over a month away, this begins my second year as the student rabbi at Am HaYam. While I […]
Shabbat Chazon: Isaiah Readies Us for Tishah B’Av and Beyond (A community study session led by Rabbi Sacks on August 6, 2022) Tishah B’Av begins tonight at sundown. Questions to Consider As We Begin: What is Tishah B’Av? Why do we have it? How do we observe it? This Shabbat prepares us for Tishah […]
Parashat Balak: What Hardship Have I Caused You? (Torah Study led by Rabbi Sacks on July 16, 2022) We just read today’s haftarah from the prophet Micah, who lived roughly between 740 BCE and 690 BCE. Micah, like Amos, is from a small southern town in Eretz Yisrael, evident in his use of imagery borrowed […]
Parashat B’har Sinai: The Repetition of the Command to Not Wrong Others A Shabbat Torah Study led by Rabbi Sacks on Saturday, May 21, 2022 Last night I spoke about the command to not wrong one another, we read twice this morning. I spoke of its implications for building and maintaining peaceful relations, with in […]
Parashat B’har Sinai: The Task of Peace-Building delivered by Rabbi Sacks on May 20, 2022 We are nearing the conclusion of the book of Leviticus. The book, especially in the latter half, makes clear that extraordinary action is called for as part of our people’s calling to be kadosh l-d-nai E-l-hecha, “holy unto HaShem your […]