Sermons
One of the strangest, most difficult and at times most exciting responsibilities of being a rabbi is preparing and delivering a sermon. It is a strange form of communication, almost completely “one way,” with little opportunity for the congregation to respond or for the rabbi to know how it was received. The blank sheet of paper before beginning to write is so daunting: what should I talk about? What should I say about it? How should I say it? But looking back now over forty years of sermons, I realize that being required to stand up in front of the congregation and open my mouth and speak has forced me to think deeply about my own life, Judaism, and our world. Below are many recent sermons and some of the sermons from the past which capture important moments in my life, or the life of our community or the world.
Becoming Israel
December 9, 2022
I know that fear is also normal. There are many good reasons to be afraid in this dangerous world. But Tally, and Linda and Ben, like our father Jacob nearly four thousand years ago, each in their own way are teaching us, showing us that it is possible to be unafraid, to step boldly out of our comfort zone, and to increase the peace of God’s world.
Gratitude
August 19, 2022
Like “I love you” and “I’m sorry,” if the words “thank you” are forced or faked, then what’s the point? Much more difficult, and much more important than teaching our kids manners, is the question: how do we teach our children to feel honestly grateful? For that matter, how do we bring ourselves to feel honestly grateful?
Apology and Forgiveness
Yom Kippur 2021
In one of our religion’s most brilliant flashes of insight, Yom Kippur teaches us the awesome liberating, therapeutic power of a conversation.
Do Not Covet
February 6, 2015
one question remains unanswered about that tenth commandment: You shall not covet. Can the Torah really command us not to feel something? The other commandments all speak to behavior: do not murder. Do not steal. Rest on the Sabbath. Do not sleep with another person’s spouse. These are all behaviors which we expect ourselves and others to control. But envy is an emotion; bubbling up at times unexpectedly and uncontrollably. We might wish we did not feel envy….but we either do or we do not. You can legislate actions, but can you legislate feelings?
Running Away
Yom Kippur 2012
Tonight I would like to explore together what it means to stop running. To courageously take a stand. That is the opposite of running away: to stand our ground.
The Raven
October 12, 2007
Suddenly, the story of Noah and the flood, the ark and the birds, the dove and the raven take on an entirely new set of meanings for us…the reader. The raven’s irrefutable accusation is directed at every one of us, when we look for a scapegoat, for a bird to throw off of our ark…for the person to remove from our life.
Barefoot on Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur 1998
make no mistake: the authentic Judaism that is alive, and which has kept us alive as a people, is a physical faith...acted out in the realm of our bodies and the material world. We will only find the fire at the core of Judaism in mitzvot, physical practices which we enact with our hands, our mouths, our feet, our bodies.
Two Kinds of Solitude
Yom Kippur 1994
Yom Kippur, this Day of Atonement, is about both kinds of solitude. On this day we reject the loneliness which we create. We resolve and act to reach out across the distance which we have set between ourselves and the people of our lives.
And on this Day of Atonement, we embrace the first solitude - the aloneness which is at the heart of being human.
Fasting on Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur 1993
The traditional greeting on Yom Kippur, ironically, is “Have an easy fast.” That is the voice of reasonable, common sense Judaism. Tonight I won’t wish you that; I wish you a heart-breaking fast.
Sexual Ethics
Yom Kippur 1986
We Jews, when confronted with ethical problems, have traditionally turned to the Torah for guidance. It is one of the great failures of Judaism in our day that the Torah, and those who teach it, have not been very helpful when it come to the modern dilemmas of whom to have sex with, and when.