Parashat Emor: Counting–The Omer, Singing Competitions, and Confidence in College Presidents (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on May 18, 2024) We are in the midst of the period of the counting of the Omer, which helps us tie the Passover holy days with their reminder of our getting out of Egypt and oppression to Shavuot, […]
Two Themes of the Hanukkah Story (D’var Torah delivered by Rabbi Sacks on December 15, 2023) Hanukkah offers the idea of miracles–their possibilities, their actualization, and basking in them. On Hanukkah, we focus on two miracles. One is the nes mil-chamah, the miraculous victory of the few over the many, and the weak over the […]
Parashat Vayishlach: Listening, and Responding to Victims of Sexual Assault (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on December 2, 2023) One of the phenomena we are witnessing in the aftermath of October 7 is the attempt to erase and deny the brutal sexual violence that Hamas perpetrated that day against Israeli women and girls. This has […]
Parashat Vayera: Solidarity with Israel Shabbat (A Torah study led by Rabbi J.B. Sacks, November 4, 2023) Now more than ever, in the wake of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel and in the midst of a war that may be protracted and one that we hope will not escalate into something more […]
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 […]