Parashat B’reishit: The Story of Cain (Torah Study led by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on October 22, 2022)  This week’s Torah portion is Bereshit (Genesis), which is best known for the days of creation, and also for the Garden of Eden. But there is another well-known story in this week’s parashah, and that is the […]

Shabbat Breishit: Mistakes–A Gift From G!d? (Delivered by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on October 21, 2022) We’ve made it. The High Holy Day season is over, and we are now returning to our regularly scheduled programming. This week, we have scrolled the Torah back to the beginning, and start over with the story of Genesis, […]

Shabbat of Sukkot: Kohelet Through The Lens of Yizkor (Delivered by Student Rabbi on October 17, 2022) Over the course of our lives, the number of people we carry with us grows and grows. Sometimes that number starts when we are very young. Some of us find healing. Some of us don’t. Some people find […]

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 […]

Kol Nidre: Do I Really Sound Like That? (Delivered by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on Tuesday, October 4, 2022) On the first day of Rosh HaShanah I spoke about the importance of listening to other people’s voices, and other people’s needs. It was a nod to Sh’ma Koleinu, which most congregations recite on Yom Kippur. […]

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 […]

Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (Delivered by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on September 16, 2022)  I know that as Jews, we say this pretty much all year round, but it’s that time of the year again. We are in the month of Elul. The High Holy Days are almost upon us. Tomorrow night, […]

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 […]