Sermons

08/06/2016

Matot-Ma’asei 5776: “Patriarchy and Progress”

I received a package in the mail this week which filled with terror when I opened it and saw what was inside. I opened the large white envelope and out…slipped…the Ezras Torah Luach for 5777 which begins in only a few more weeks. I’m not quite ready for a new calendar, I’m not ready yet for…
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07/30/2016

Pinchas 5776: “The Audacity of Leadership”

The least appreciated verse in the Torah must be “וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמור“ The second least appreciated verse in the Torah is… “וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמור.“ And the third least appreciated verse in the Torah is… “וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמור.” Do you see where I’m going? Dozens of passages in the Torah…
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07/02/2016

Shlach 5776: “The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself”

In 1933, when Franklin Roosevelt spoke at his first inauguration, the country was in the grip of the Great Depression. Millions of Americans were unemployed, millions faced homelessness and hunger. In a nation without Social Security, close to one half of all seniors lived in poverty. Across the ocean, despair had smoothed the way for the rise…
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06/25/2016

Baha’alotcha 5776: “How to Be a Mensch and Why”

In 2007 an anonymous Jewish blogger attempted to classify all 613 mitzvot of the Torah into those that were likely to be supported by Democrats and those that would be supported by Republicans. He went through each mitzvah and asked, which American political party in 2007 would be more likely to vote for an imaginary piece…
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06/18/2016

Naso 5776: “Arba Avot Nezikin: Four Kinds of Damage”

On March 24, 1999, NATO warplanes lead by the United States Air Force began an eleven-week aerial assault on Serbia to prevent and reverse an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Kosovo. During the course of this brief war, NATO forces dropped 1,392 cluster bombs on Kosovo and Serbia. A cluster bomb is a large bomb that opens as…
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05/28/2016

Behar 5776: “But What Does That Have to Do With the Price of Tea in China?”

One of the fun things about Israel is the way in which Jewish culture infiltrates small details of daily life and culture. Instead of using the English idiom, “but what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?” in Israel one says, מָה עִנְיַן שְמִטָה אֵצֶל הַר סִינַי “what does Shmittah…
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05/14/2016

Kedoshim 5776: “Baseless Love or Solidarity?”

History is important, not only as it occurs and is recorded, but also as it is remembered and retold. Sometimes old and well known stories get told in new ways. And, sometimes an event from the distant past, for example the election of 1800 or the Hamilton – Burr duel, can become newly relevant to…
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03/26/2016

Tzav 5776: “Jewish Power from Sushan to Washington”

I speak a lot from this pulpit about the daily minyanim here at Anshe Sholom and the need to strengthen their reliability and grow the attendance, of men and women in this community, at our weekday Shacharit, Mincha, and Maariv minyanim. Well, I had an interesting experience at a few weekday minyanim this week. As…
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03/19/2016

Vayikra 5776: “If Destruction Be Our Lot”

Judaism is a tradition of great debates: Hillel vs. Shammai. Mystics vs. Rationalists. Hasidim vs. Mitnagdim. Rashi vs. Rabbenu Tam. But, without a doubt, the most confounding debate in Jewish tradition is the debate between Rambam…and Maimonides. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, was known by his Hebrew acronym Rambam in the world of classic Jewish learning and was…
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03/12/2016

Pekudei 5776: “Exodus and Revolution”

[Two significant milestones in the shul this week that deserve mention. 9pm Maariv minyan completed six months without interruption. Impressive bein adam l’havero and bein adam l’makom. Daf Yomi completed Gittin and begins Kiddushin on Sunday morning]. **** After July 4, 1776 a lot changed. Even at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York, which was…
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