Yom Kippur | Rabbi Benjy Forester | October 2, 2025
Yom Kippur 5786/2025 Blum Community Hall – Anshe Emet Synagogue Rabbi Benjy Forester The scene: Rehovot, Israel, June 17, 1965. A crowd of scientists and dignitaries gathers at the Weizmann Institute for the dedication ceremony of the first computer ever created in Israel. Gershom Scholem, the global authority on Jewish mysticism, is invited to Continue Reading »
Yom Kippur | Rabbi Michael Siegel | October 2, 2025
Yom Kippur Sermon 2025/5786 Am Yisrael Chai: The People of Israel Live Rabbi Michael S. Siegel 1945. The Bergen Belsen death camp. 50,000 people, most of them Jews, were murdered here, including a teenage girl named Anne Frank. After British troops liberated Bergen Belsen it became a displaced persons camp where they cared for Continue Reading »
Yom Kippur | Rabbi Michael Siegel | October 2, 2025
Panim El Panim: The Power of Looking into Each Other’s Faces Yom Kippur 2025/5786 Rabbi Michael Siegel There is no feeling quite like holding a newborn in your arms. The warmth of the child’s body, the softness of their skin, so small, so beautiful, so miraculous. There is an unparalleled sense of wonder, seeing the Continue Reading »
Yom Kippur | Rabbi D'ror Chankin-Gould | October 2, 2025
Intention vs Impact: The Art of a Successful Apology Rabbi D’ror Chankin-Gould On February 28th, 1844, President John Tyler was almost assassinated… by accident. The president was taking a pleasure cruise down the Potomac with 400 of his closest friends. Tyler was accompanied by his fiancée and future first Lady, Julia Gardiner, and her father. Continue Reading »
Rosh Hashanah | Rabbi Benjy Forester | September 24, 2025
Rosh Hashanah 5786/2025 Rabbi Benjy Forester The writer James Williams, not to be confused with the psychologist William James, points out the following fact: Axes existed for 1.2 million years before anyone thought to put a handle on them. Eventually, it dawned on someone to do so, making axes both safer and more efficient. The Continue Reading »
Rosh Hashanah Day One | Rabbi D'ror Chankin-Gould | September 23, 2025
My Fight is Needed Elsewhere: How to Save Up for When it Matters Most Rosh HaShanah 5786 Rabbi D’ror Chankin-Gould This summer, like millions of others, I took my boys to see the latest Superman movie. I didn’t hesitate. It looked like good, clean, fun. The kids had a good time. The effects were exciting. Continue Reading »
Rosh Hashanah | Rabbi Michael Siegel | September 23, 2025
Finding Our Confidence After the Aftershocks of October 7th Rosh Hashanah: 2025/5786 Rabbi Michael Siegel Rebo’no Shel Olam, Creator of Heaven and Earth, You who created each of us in the Tselem Elohim in Your Sacred Image. On this day of Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate Your Creation. On this day of Rosh Hashanah, the difficulties Continue Reading »
Erev Rosh Hashanah | Rabbi D'ror Chankin-Gould | September 22, 2025
Fight, Flight, or Freeze: Allowing Rosh HaShanah to Bring us Back to Who we are Without the Fear Erev Rosh HaShanah Dvar Torah 5786 Rabbi D’ror Chankin-Gould The smell of fear is in the air. People quake. Men hide. Women shake. Heart beats race. Breath is short. In the Star Wars prequel, Andor, the show Continue Reading »
Shemini | Rabbi Michael Siegel | April 26, 2025
Remembering Pope Francis Through a Jewish Lens Parshat Shemini 2025 Rabbi Michael Siegel An oxymoron is a figure of speech, usually one or two words, in which seemingly contradictory terms appear side by side. Here are a few examples: alone together bittersweet deafening silence deceptively honest Oxymoron comes from the Greek word oksús (meaning “keen”) and Continue Reading »
Rabbi Michael Siegel | April 20, 2025
On this last day of Passover, we gather for Yizkor and find ourselves ending the holiday where we began: focused on the sacred exercise of memory. The Haggadah instructed us on the first night: “In every generation, each person must see themselves as if they personally had gone out of Egypt.” This central imperative of Continue Reading »
