Sermons
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They say a lottery is a tax on those who aren’t good at math. If that’s true, then that’s a tax that I really ought to pay. Nonetheless I did not buy a lottery ticket (I’m sure I’ll find another way to pay that tax). I was, however, hoping that one of you – one…
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This past Tuesday morning, students at forty Jewish high schools across North America gathered together, using video conferencing technology, and marked the completion of the study of the entire Mishnah. A collective learning project, a siyum, of this sort is a common Jewish way to commemorate the death of a friend or relative and these high school students…
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A terrible crime takes place in this week’s parasha. Who is guilty? The crime is the kidnapping and sale of Yosef. Few crimes are as cruel and the Torah itself includes a severe punishment for one who sells another into slavery. So who is guilty of this crime. The Torah seems to engage in a sort…
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“Many of those who seek entrance into this country have little concept of our form of government. Many of them come from lands where [a dangerous ideology] had its first growth and dominates the political thought and philosophy of the people.” That quote was said by a member of the United States Senate, Chapman Revercomb,…
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David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel was a short man but a larger than life figure. In addition to an outsized role in Israel’s first governments, he was a dominant figure in Israel’s culture. He was a politician and a public intellectual. He wrote about Buddhism and about Socialism, and he wrote about…
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Consider Avraham as a very old man, a widower, following the death of his beloved wife. Had Avraham been faithful to his covenant with God? Without a doubt. He left his birthplace, his homeland, and his father’s home to follow God to an unknown land. According to the rabbis, he endured ten trials, to test his…
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In the years of hosting guests at my Shabbat and yom tov table, my greatest regret is that I never kicked anyone out of my house. Allow me to explain. I first enrolled as a student at Yeshivat Hamivtar, in Efrat, in the summer of 1998, Zman Ellul 5758. It was only there years since the assassination…
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I have a halakhic riddle. But before I ask the riddle I need to provide some background information. The year that just recently ended, 5775, was a shemita year, a Sabbatical year, when many times of agricultural labor in Eretz Yisrael are forbidden. The Torah tells us, however, that fruits and vegetables that grow on…
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I. There was once a man who moved to a new city just a few days before a family wedding. Since he was new to the city he did not yet have a regular dry cleaner and so he walked about the city searching for a dry cleaner. He couldn’t find one. Until, while he was…
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I. Jews cannot agree about anything. Looking around today, at our shul, at other congregations in this city, and at synagogues of every denomination and every variety in every corner of the world, you might think that there was no controversy about this day, Rosh Hashanah, being the “birthday of the world” – the anniversary of Creation itself. …
- Parasha
- Acharei Mot
- Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
- Baha'alotcha
- Balak
- Bamidbar
- Behar
- Behar-Behukotai
- Behukotai
- Bereishit
- Beshalach
- Bo
- Chayei Sara
- Devarim
- Eikev
- Emor
- Ha'Azinu
- Hol HaMoed Sukkot
- Hukkat
- Hukkat-Balak
- Kedoshim
- Ki Tavo
- Ki Teitzei
- Ki Tissa
- Kol Nidre
- Korach
- Lekh Lekha
- Ma'asei
- Matot
- Matot Ma'asei
- Miketz
- Mishpatim
- Naso
- Nitzavim
- Nitzavim-Vayeilech
- Noach
- Pekudei
- Pinchas
- Re'eh
- Rosh Hashanah
- Shavuot
- Shekalim
- Shemot
- Shimini Atzeret
- Shlach
- Shmini
- Shoftim
- Tazria
- Tazria Metzora
- Terumah
- Tetzaveh
- Toldot
- Tzav
- Va'Etchanan
- Vaera
- Vayakhel
- Vayakhel-Pekudei
- VaYechi
- Vayeilech
- Vayera
- VaYeshev
- VaYetzei
- VaYigash
- Vayikra
- VaYishlach
- Yitro
- Yom Ha'atzmaut
- Yom Kippur
- Passover
- Shavuot
- Year
