Shavuot Yizkor: We Are Never Finished (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on June 13, 2024)   Q: Why couldn’t the prisoner stop talking? A: He couldn’t finish his sentence.   I had a clock for lunch earlier. I couldn’t finish it, it was time consuming.   My therapist told me the way to achieve inner […]

Erev Rosh HaShanah: Practice, Priorities, People (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on September 15, 2023) In 2009 archaeologists unearthed an ancient synagogue in the city of Migdal on the Sea of Galilee. It was established over 2,000 years ago. It’s fascinating. The Jewish community of ancient Migdal built a synagogue at a time when Jewish […]

Parashat Emor: For What Should I Compromise on Religious Observance? (A d’var Torah delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on May 6, 2023) Around the corner and half way up the street was an small Orthodox synagogue, housed in a converted home. They were small and only met on Shabbat and holy days. Their president davened […]

Parashat Chayyei Sarah: All Years Are Equal (Torah study led by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on November 19, 2022)   We do not have a lot of time, but it’s important for us to share words of Torah. So let me speak briefly on today’s Torah reading. The first verse we read today, Genesis 23:1, is […]

Parshat Chayei Sarah: “Bring Your Days with You” (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on November 18, 2022)  Old age takes away from us what we have inherited and gives us what we have earned.[1] Let me repeat these important words from Gerald Brenan. Old age takes away from us what we have inherited and gives […]

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, […]

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 Korach: Considerations of Leadership (led by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on July 2, 2022)  Last night I spoke of the difference between Moses’ leadership and Korach’s leadership, which we read about this morning in the Torah reading. Korach’s style was self-serving and preyed upon the hurts, fears, vulnerability, powerlessness, and lack of awareness of people. […]

Parashat Korach: Moses and Korach, Without and Within (Delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on Friday, July 1, 2022)   In this week’s reading, we witness three dramatic power struggles that have national repercussions! Korach, a fellow Levite, leads a struggle against Moses’ religious authority. Datan and Aviram, descendents of Jacob’s first-born Reuben, push back against […]