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.
Sadness and Hope
October 24, 2020
This is the story that we Jews are telling this week, just as we have told it every year at this time, for three thousand years. I tell it to our kids, and to myself, because it reminds me that I am part of something old and vast. I will tell it even to little children, because this story is a good way to learn that we human beings have seen trouble before; we have experienced countless times in which the world felt strange and unstable all around us.
Helplessly Hoping
Yom Kippur 2020
As more and more singers joined their friends, I saw an emotional tsunami gathering force before my eyes: one after another, exquisite voices, hopeful, serious, profound young faces, each one singing out of their isolation, their voices somehow joining together, in heartbreaking harmonies, all against the tragic background of a great country brought to its knees by a terrifying modern day plague. Helplessly Hoping.
Pandemic Sabbatical
June 26, 2020
The job of being a rabbi has been the great honor and privilege of my life. But it’s a job that never ends. From early in the morning until late at night. The sadness and the joy, the weight of the past and the questions about the future. And all of the people! tiny children, hormonal teenagers, stressed out parents, aging seniors. All with desires, needs and opinions! There is nothing more exciting, nothing more interesting, nothing more holy than what happens in this community. But a rabbi needs to rest.
Singing with the Birds
May 8, 2020
I felt a huge wave of sadness wash over me, as I watched everyone on the screen and heard only myself. That was such a lonely moment, and I thought I don’t know if I can sustain this for months and months and months. If I can’t find people to sing with, I’ll go crazy! Then I went out to my backyard and sat quietly and listened to the birds, and slowly realized that I was surrounded by living, singing, praying voices.
Our Family in Israel
April 24, 2020
This is our family, in Israel, living through the coronavirus. The tiny baby in her flat in Tel Aviv, dreaming and her parents longing for their families. Yishay Ribo, singing for us to the entire world, ancient questions out of our tradition that have come back to life, in our day. What is God teaching us? How do we come back together, and when? And the children of Kibbutz Gezer, singing and dancing with their popsicles on a hot corona day.
Passover and Pandemic
Friday night, March 27 2020
This year the old Passover story, out of our distant past, is suddenly speaking directly to us. Not only to us, the Jewish people, but to all of us, the entire Human Family.