First Comes Courage Rabbi J.B. Sacks- Delivered Dec 1    ,2023  A Jewish proverb teaches, “When you have no choice, mobilize the spirit of courage.” Pretty much all Israelis and all of us Jews have had to at least try to mobilize our “spirit of courage” since the October 7 attacks against Israel and the […]

Parashat Ki Tavo: Paying Attention This Coming New Year (Torah study led by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on September 2, 2023) We are all preparing for Rosh HaShanah. These preparations should include more than considerations of holiday dinner menu, getting apparel off to the dry cleaners, and making sure we return our forms from the High […]

Parashat Ki Tavo: How to Bring Bikkurim (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on September 1, 2023) Tomorrow’s Torah reading speaks of the bringing of bikkurim, first fruits, to the Temple, during which they would make a specific declaration. This declaration presents the precise wording that the farmer used when addressing G!d. Later the Mishnah[1] records […]

Parashat Shoftim: Justice, Justice Let Us Pursue (delivered by Rabbi Sacks on Friday, August 18, 2023) Over the last several millennia, humanity has developed a large and growing body of profound writings, words which encapsulate the hopes, aspirations and potential of the human soul. Across the globe, religious traditions rightly exult in the majesty and […]

JEWISH QUOTES TO PONDER AS WE BEGIN A NEW YEAR–PART 2 (A community study period led by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on January 7, 2023) At our first Shabbat services after Yom Kippur Wednesday and before Sukkot began, we took time together to ponder various quotes that could help us to set the tone for 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, […]

JEWISH QUOTES TO PONDER AS WE BEGIN A NEW YEAR–PART 1 (A community study period led by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on October 8, 2022)  As we have just completed Yom Kippur Wednesday and are about to begin Sukkot tomorrow night, I thought we should take time to ponder various quotes that could help us to […]

Parashat Ha’azinu: Living Out the Poetry of Torah (Delivered by Rabbi Sacks on October 7, 2022)  I studied in a program in Jerusalem. We traveled in the Galilee and came to the mystical city of Tz’fat in Israel’s Northern District. There our guide and teacher asked our group of young seekers, “What is the most […]

Erev Rosh HaShanah: Rekindling Our Pintele Yid (Delivered by Rabbi Sacks on September 25, 2022)   My practice on Erev Rosh HaShanah is to tell a story and to see what lessons it might yield. Tonight’s story is a true account, a travel story from a professional traveler. Some of you may remember the Birnbaum […]

Shabbat Chazon: Moses’ Lessons As We Head into Tishah B’Av (delivered by Rabbi Sacks on Friday, August 5, 2022) The Torah has a sense of humor. Tomorrow we read from Deuteronomy, the fifth and final book of the Torah. It begins,[1] אֵ֣לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר דִּבֶּ֤ר מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶל־כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּעֵ֖בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ן These are the words that Moses […]