Sermon Archives

“We have gotten used to tables, in telling time.  We reach out and take our days and weeks from them, like a buffet line.  They are well-arranged in columns and rows.  Even next year’s days may be known in advance.  Time has been foreseen and pre-prepared; we must only pick up our utensils and chow down.  

But there was a time when time knew no tables, when the year was a series of circles, and each...Read more...

As some, if not all of you, know, I have a 15 lb shih tzu named Cocoa. We love her tremendously, in spite of the fact that she drives us insane. One of her most annoying habits is the way that she plays fetch. She’ll walk into the living room and approach her overflowing basket of toys and demand to play. Yoni will happily oblige and throw a toy, she’ll run to go get it, and then come back a minute later without it in her mouth. We...Read more...

The main theme of Rosh Hashanah is to remember. But what are we remembering?

Ve-Hashem Pakad et Sarah. 

The Torah reading for Rosh Hashanah is “and God remembered Sarah.”  Sarah had desperately been hoping for a child and on Rosh Hashanah we read that God remembered her prayers.

One reason we read this passage on Rosh Hashanah is because the day on which God remembered Sarah was, according to the Talmud,...Read more...

I Don't Really Care, Do You?
Balak, 5778

We are all familiar with the saying “If a tree falls in the forest and there’s nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound?” If I were to adapt it to this week’s parsha, I would ask “If a Moabite king hires a random prophet to go and curse the Israelites but blessings come out instead, and it has no ostensible impact on the Israelites, do we really need to devote an entire...Read more...

Boundaries vs. Personal Spiritual Growth
Nassoh, 5778

The opening parts of the book of Bemidbar are about the encampments of the Jewish people.  Each tribe was assigned to a specific camp with the camp of the Levites being in the center of the other tribes, and directly adjacent to the Mishkan.  The Levites were tasked with a very important role of breaking down, transporting, and then assembling the Mishkan and its...Read more...

On Wednesdays We Wear Pink: The Lasting Lessons of the Women in Tanach
Shavuot, 5778

I wanted to open with a statement that, when I shared it with a group of women a few weeks ago, was met with audible gasps: The Book of Ruth is the only time in all of Tanach that women are in a positive relationship with each other. It is the only time that women are friends, that women get along. That is pretty shocking, and today I wanted to...Read more...

The Great Shabbat

Shabbat Hagadol means The Great Shabbat.  This Shabbat was for me truly The Great Shabbat.  It is a Shabbat I will remember for the rest of my life.

Many Shomer Shabbat teens from around the country wanted to observe Shabbat meticulously but they also wanted to be fully present in the March for our Lives.  So teens from our community sprung into action.  Led by Ezra Einhorn, the teens...Read more...

The Idolater as a Spiritual Giant
Parah 5778

This Shabbat we read the passage from the Torah known as parashat Parah, chapter 19 of Bamidbar, that contains the laws of the parah adumah, the red heifer.

The Torah tells us that if a person comes in contact with a dead body then they become ritually impure (tamei).  Such a person is unable to enter into the holy space of the Beit Hamikdash or to eat of the sacrificial...Read more...

The Kosher Pig®
Vayetzei 5778

As Jacob prepares to leave the land of his birthplace, the land of Canaan, the land of our heritage, he dreams a dream.  His dream is not just a mere dream, but a symbol to him as he journeys outward to the world.

“Jacob dreamt a dream.  And behold his ladder was firmly attached to the ground and its top was climbing heavenward, vehineh sulam mutzvav artzah, verosho magiah...Read more...

Kol Nidre 5778

Hi. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Shari Kleiner.

I am the Chair of this year’s High Holiday Appeal.  

So this is the appeal speech.  Every year at this time, someone gets up here and makes an appeal to help Ohev survive another budget cycle. That’s the way this shul works – it charges less in dues and fees than is budgeted to run the shul.  You may wonder...Read more...

Removing Our Walls
Yom Kippur 5778

Every year I stand before you on Kol Nidrei night and tell you a funny story about my car.  But this year I have no funny story about a car for you.  This year instead I want to talk about a very sad, car story.  

I am talking about a car that at 1:45 pm on Saturday, August 12 intentionally plowed into a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia, and murdered Heather...Read more...

Is a Golem a Human?
Rosh Hashanah 5778

Rosh Hashanah is the day we celebrate the creation of the world—hayom harat olam.  Rosh Hashanah is the day that we recognize the awesome and majestic power of our Creator.

But we are now living in a world of such technological advancement where human beings are also capable of creating the most awesome inventions.  Some people mistakenly think we don’t need to...Read more...