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Archive: October 2022

A Referendum on the American Dream – Yom Kippur

Posted on October 5, 2022

Engraved on the base of the Statue of Liberty are the words of the Jewish poet Emma Lazarus: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” These were Continue Reading »

Survival for What? – Kol Nidre

Posted on October 4, 2022

This past year, I participated in a fellowship with clergy and educators across the denominations of Judaism. We had the opportunity to study with Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, an Orthodox theologian and a longtime proponent of Jewish pluralism. Although we might have very different perspectives on Jewish law, his writing has deeply influenced my own thinking Continue Reading »

Hayom Harat Olam: Today the World is “Eternally Pregnant” Part II – Rosh Hashana

Posted on September 26, 2022

“There is no law without story.” This was Rabbi Aviva Richman’s refrain during the Hadar Institute’s two-day conversation about Jewish perspectives on abortion. This is how she explained why, in addition to traditional and contemporary rabbinic rulings, this conversation included the voices of modern scholars and health-care professionals, those who had struggled with infertility and Continue Reading »

Hayom Harat Olam: Today the World is “Eternally Pregnant” Part 1 – erev Rosh Hashana

Posted on September 25, 2022

As I first began to conceive of my High Holy Day sermons, my family was eagerly anticipating the birth of my nephew. On erev Tisha B’Av, about four days before his due date, I casually texted my brother and sister-in-law, saying, “No pressure, but according to the Jewish tradition, if the baby is born before Continue Reading »

Oys and Joys: What is the Purpose of Praying in Community?

Posted on September 16, 2022

  This week’s d’var Torah on Ki Tavo. On a conference call with other small congregation rabbis earlier this week, a colleague was lamenting that their congregants just weren’t coming back to services in person, and it was disheartening to see all the empty chairs. I, personally, am learning to rejoice just as much in Continue Reading »

It’s Okay To Want Things

Posted on August 26, 2022

This week’s d’var Torah on parashat Re’eh and student loan forgiveness.   I still remember the name of the woman who processed my final student loan payment over the phone. It was Kaffeine. With a K. Bless her. Though my rabbinical school tuition was heavily subsidized (that’s one place our URJ dues go), it still Continue Reading »

Juneteenth and James Patterson

Posted on June 17, 2022

This week’s d’var Torah on B’haalotecha and lifting up marginalized voices. I know that social media gets a bad rap, but every once in a while, something amazing happens on Twitter. This might be because my feed is a carefully curated Venn diagram of activists, progressive clergy, writers and librarians. This week, writers, book lovers, Continue Reading »

Woe To The Generation Who Is Stuck With This Leadership

Posted on May 27, 2022

This week’s d’var Torah on parashat Behukotai and gun violence. Image Created by Rabbi Deborah Bodin Cohen The wisest thing I ever heard a clergy person say was after the sudden death a 19-year-old girl. Amy had gone to high school with me and my younger brother, and most of our community crowded into St. Continue Reading »

“The Heart Knows The Bitterness Of Its Own Soul”: Trusting The Pregnant Person

Posted on May 20, 2022

This week’s d’var Torah on Reproductive Justice and the Yoma 82a-83a. This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to speak to the congregation since the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked. I’m glad to have had a little time to process. Because frankly, sometimes it feels like I’ve already Continue Reading »

How Can We Sing The Eternal’s Song In A Strange Land

Posted on April 22, 2022

This week’s d’var Torah on Passover and Yom HaShoah. With gratitude to Rabbi Tali Adler for her lecture “A Seder in Novobirisk: What Seder Nights in Times of Trauma Can Teach us in Times of Joy,” April 7, 2022. Depending on whom you ask, Passover has either just ended, or the last day of Passover Continue Reading »