Parashat Pinchas: “She Never Told Her Love” (D’var Torah delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on July 7, 2023) Henry Peach Robinson was a nineteenth-century English photographer who was best known for pioneering the technique of joining multiple negatives or prints to form a single image. His most famous work, “Fading Away,” is a great example […]
Consider Roddie Edmonds and So Consider Your Mortality (A Yizkor sermon delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on May 27, 2023) On this Memorial Day weekend, I’d like to recall the life of Master Sgt. Roderick “Roddie” Edmonds from Knoxville, Tennessee, who enlisted in the United States Army in 1941 and served in the 106th Infantry […]
PAINTING JERUSALEM: MODERN ARTISTS PORTRAY THE HOLY CITY (A Torah Discussion with Rabbi Sacks given on May 20, 2023) On Thursday night when we inaugurated Yom Yerushalayim. Fran showed the importance of Jerusalem to three major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and showed a key important location in Jerusalem for each. I explored how […]
Eighth-day Pesach: The Tale of The Four Mourning Children (Yizkor d’var Torah delivered by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on April 13, 2023) Remembrance. We’re all here today to remember. In Judaism, we have an obligation to remember. The Haggadah teaches that in every generation, we’re all obligated to see ourselves as though we had personally […]
Seventh Day Pesach: Quotes about Slavery/Freedom and a Painting (A community study and d’var Torah led by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on April 12, 2023) On the first morning of Pesach, we took time to discuss quotes about slavery and freedom, and how they might resonate with us. Please refer to your handout. Then we focused […]
PESACH, Day 1: QUOTES about SLAVERY and FREEDOM (A community discussion led by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on April 6, 2023) [NOTE: We took time together to ponder quotes about slavery and freedom to better think through all the ways that both are experienced in the world–physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Today we’ll focus on page 1 […]
What Can We Learn From Characters in Megillat Esther (A pre-Purim study led by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on March 4, 2023) Today, Shabbat Zachor, is a reminder that Purim is just around the corner. The story of Purim is very well-known, as are the characters. It’s a fun tale befitting a whimsical holiday. […]
Parashat T’tzaveh: Remember to Forget (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on March 3, 2023) Psychologists, neurologists, and cyberneticians all study memory and forgetfulness. They seek to learn and explain the “how” of these processes–the dynamics. But these processes constitute the substance of spiritual life. We are more familiar with mitzvot about remembering. For example, […]
Parashat B’Shalach: Three Mornings (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on February 4, 2023) Boker tov! In stressful times, in desperate times, it is natural for people to yearn for a better day. The kind of future that one projects depends, at least to some extent, upon the age, background, and character of each individual. A […]
Striking the Egyptians: The Incomplete Redemption (delivered by Rabbi J.B. on January 21, 2023) Every year at the Passover seder everyone dips a finger in their cup of wine and spills one drop for each of the ten plagues. Why do we spill wine at the mentioning of plagues? Today the reason usually given is […]