Pesach Yizkor: Empty Chairs at Empty Tables (delivered by Rabbi J.B. Sacks on April 30, 2024) (Singing:) “There’s a grief that can’t be spoken There’s a pain goes on and on. Empty chairs at empty tables Now my friends are dead and gone”…… Eight days ago we all sat around our seder tables where […]
Sh’vi-i shel Pesach: Trauma and Transcendence (delivered by Rabbi Sacks on April 29, 2024) Barely had our Israelite ancestors left Egypt, their belongings on their shoulders and the unleavened bread in their pouches, when they found themselves and their children in mortal jeopardy. Before them lay the expanse of the Reed Sea, and behind them […]
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 […]
Shabbat Chol HaMoed Pesach: Freedom–Use It Or Lose It (A d’var Torah delivered by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on April 8, 2023) On this third day of Pesach,we continue to celebrate how we went ,מִעַבְדוּת לְחֵרוּת from slavery to freedom. As we read in the Haggadah on seder night from Deuteronomy 26: וַיּוֹצִאֵנוּ יְהֹוָה מִמִּצְרַיִם […]
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 […]
Parashat Beha’alotcha: When It’s Not Too Late (Delivered by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on Friday, June 17, 2022) Shabbat shalom everyone. It is so good to be with you all tonight on Zoom. I am sorry I wasn’t at CAH for Shavuot, but I was not feeling well. I felt bad about not being […]
EIGHTH-DAY PASSOVER YIZKOR: Shirah Chadasha–New Songs (presented by Rabbi Sacks on April 23, 2022) We just chanted a selection from the Song of Songs. We read: Arise my darling, my fair one, come away! For now the winter is past…the blossoms have appeared in the land, the song of the turtledove is heard in our […]
Seventh Day Passover: Crossing the Red Seas of Life (delivered by Rabbi Sacks on April 22, 2022) Today we read the unforgettable, thrilling episode of the crossing of the Red Sea. The Israelites, in great haste, cast off the chains and shackles of their servitude when Pharaoh, finally, granted Moses permission to take them out […]
The One Who Redeems Our Children[1] (Study led by Rabbi Sacks on Shabbat, the first morning of Passover, April 16, 2022) At our Passover seder, we use a Haggadah. The word Haggadah means “a telling.” But whose story do we tell on Passover? One obvious answer: Our people’s. We might also think: our own. […]
Pesach Passages: A Pre-Passover Haggadah Study (Taught by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on Saturday, April 2, 2022) As Passover (Pesach) draws near, it is not uncommon for people to make preparations for the holiday days in advance. For some of us, we must figure out logistics such as cleaning our home, kashering our kitchen, […]