Sermon Archives

There is a joke that has emerged in American Jewish society in the past few decades - that every Jewish holiday can be summarized as follows “They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!” Pesach is “Pharaoh tried to destroy us, we won, let’s eat.” Chanukah is “The Greeks tried to obliterate us, we won, let’s eat.”

I’ve been thinking about this joke the past few days and I’ve realized that, while funny, it isn’t...Read more...

Many rabbis feel that Terumah is one of the toughest parshiot to speak about - our job is to take the parsha, find something that we find especially interesting, and speak about it in a way that connects to our lives. And so a parsha that contains almost exclusively information about how to build the mishkan is known affectionately as one of the more challenging parshiot, and one that in theory we may want to try to avoid. And somehow,...Read more...

When I was looking at this parsha last week and trying to decide what to teach for my parsha class - which you are all invited to! - I decided that we would study Yaakov’s last Testament to his brothers, often referred to as Yaakov’s blessings to his children (though they aren’t actually blessings). The language is some of the most obscure and difficult to understand language in the whole Torah, and everyone from the Anchor Bible...Read more...

The story of Yaakov and Esav is a tragic story of conflict. They struggle while they are still in the womb, and this struggle continues throughout their lives. We have the story of the lentil stew when they are young men, followed by Yaakov stealing the blessing from Esav, and then years later they reunite but separate again, never to reunite. It is a story of twin brothers who never appear to have a positive relationship, and it is painful...Read more...

I want to discuss an extraordinary point.  I know that sometimes I am prone to hyperbole, but in this case I promise you I am not exaggerating at all.  

I literally want to discuss an extraordinary point.

Here is how I noticed this extraordinary point in the first place.

I was writing our Torah scroll when I came to the following verse in this week’s portion:

“Vatomer sarai el avram, chamasi...Read more...

Here is what Yom Kippur means to me: Our past should not define our future.  Just because we did something in the past –made a mistake, got into an argument, did something we weren’t proud of—that’s not who we are.  We can be different moving forward.

I am really glad that this Yom Kippur, on our holiest night of the year, we are joined by Joshua Lopez.  I am proud that he accepted my invitation to sit next to...Read more...

On one of the first days of my 9th grade biology class, our teacher walked around the room as he began the lesson. He was fairly casual so most of us didn’t think much of it until he paused for a moment and slammed the textbook he was holding closed right next to one of the girls in the class. As you can imagine, we all jumped at the noise, particularly that poor girl. Our teacher then explained that he did it to demonstrate the effects...Read more...

The Broken Vav
Pinchas, 5778

Recently I began learning how to be a sofer, a ritual scribe.  I am very grateful to my teacher, R. Eliezer Adam for spending hours of his time in training me.  My goal is to write a Torah scroll.  In order to accomplish this goal I am first writing a Megillat Esther, of which I am more than halfway done.  After finishing that, I plan on writing a second Megillat Esther. ...Read more...

The Art of Letting Go: A Study of Yitro and Moshe
Behaalotcha, 5778

I want to begin today by asking you to think about two questions: The first is - what is the best piece of advice you have ever received, and who gave it to you? The second is - what is the worst piece of advice you ever got, and who gave it to you, or advice you should have listened to but didn’t? Take a quick moment to think about it because I wanted to use...Read more...

The Path from Hell to Heaven
Shavuot, 5778

The good news is that when all is said and done it seems that there is only one type of sin that will cause us to be assigned in perpetuity to gehinnom.  

The bad news is that this is a sin that seems pervasive in our society today, especially on social media.  But all is not lost because with enough effort and attention we can avoid this sin.

The Talmud...Read more...

Faster, Faster, the Redemption is Coming
Pesach Day 8, 5778

From start to finish Pesach is the holiday of redemption. But it is two different redemption stories. 

The holiday begins with the focus on our ancestors’ redemption from Egypt but it concludes with an emphasis on our future redemption in a messianic era.

One manifestation of this theme of future redemption is seen in the practice of Chassidim to...Read more...

The Story of Our Rashi Matzah

A few months ago a friend of mine passed away.  His name was Rabbi Yehudah Bohrer.  He dedicated his life to the state of Israel.  He loved every stone and blade of grass in Israel so much that he took extra joy in showing visitors all around the land.  One year a group from our shul traveled together to Israel and Rabbi Bohrer was our guide.

Rabbi Bohrer had a brother who ran...Read more...

Self Segregation
Vayigash 5778

On Sunday, January 7, our shul will be going on a field trip.  We won’t be going far.  We will just be going up the road, less than a mile away, to a neighborhood in Silver Spring called Lyttonsville where we will tour the neighborhood with a local historian.  Lyttonsville was a segregated community founded by a freed slave in the 19th century.  The community that lived in...Read more...

The World to Come is in Our Hands
Shemini Atzeret 5778

On Shemini Atzeret we recite yizkor.  We remember the souls who have enriched our lives with their love.  We hold them close spiritually and we connect to them in a way we don’t make time for every day.

On Shemini Atzeret the souls of our loved ones visit us and spend time with us.

Where are those souls the rest of the year?

This week...Read more...

Yom Kippur 5778

On my desk sit two handwritten letters that I have received this year. One is from a Christian woman who is a local resident of Shepherd Park. The other is from a Jewish man who is currently an inmate at a Maryland State prison. I don’t have a prior relationship with each. But despite the obvious differences in their background, both people took the time to write to me for the same reason - they both read...Read more...