Sermons
One of the strangest, most difficult and at times most exciting responsibilities of being a rabbi is preparing and delivering a sermon. It is a strange form of communication, almost completely “one way,” with little opportunity for the congregation to respond or for the rabbi to know how it was received. The blank sheet of paper before beginning to write is so daunting: what should I talk about? What should I say about it? How should I say it? But looking back now over forty years of sermons, I realize that being required to stand up in front of the congregation and open my mouth and speak has forced me to think deeply about my own life, Judaism, and our world. Below are many recent sermons and some of the sermons from the past which capture important moments in my life, or the life of our community or the world.
Meeting God at Night
December 13, 2024
What does it mean to say that God arranges marriages? And what does it mean to say that this work that has been occupying God since the creation of the world is difficult for God, more difficult than splitting the Red Sea?
CCAR Talk on God
August 30, 2024
We rabbis, and some of our congregants, would like to set God at the center of our lives. We understand from all of our sources that for a Jew, God is fundamental, central and unavoidable. And yet, and this is the crux of the challenge: the ultimate reality of God is utterly impenetrable and mysterious.... Most of us cannot begin to comprehend the physical structures of our universe. How can we hope to say anything meaningful about the creative source which brought that universe into being?
Children and Stories
December 23, 2023
it rarely works to begin a story by speaking a name of God. In my experience, it is best to begin with a human story. To awaken memory and imagination, with colors and sounds, tastes and smells. People we have known, a place we have been, words we have sung, emotions we felt, long ago but which remain in our bodies…ready to be brought back to mind. And then, having arrived at the palace of memory and imagination, to give it a name. Singer of the blue-black night; Loving Teacher of Israel, Life and Death Dancer.