Rosh Hashanah | Rabbi Benjy Forester | September 26, 2023
Rabbi Benjy Forester Anshe Emet Synagogue Rosh Hashanah 5784 / 2023 Sanctuary Service “Leave Your Raft Behind” I’m told that when the great scholar and activist Abraham Joshua Heschel would interview candidates for the Jewish Theological Seminary Rabbinical School, he liked to ask them what 3 things they would take with them to a desert Continue Reading »
Tazria-Metzora | Rabbi D'ror Chankin-Gould | April 22, 2023
Shemini | Rabbi Michael Siegel | April 15, 2023
Vayechi | Rabbi Michael Siegel | January 7, 2023
There is a story told of two friends who had grown old together. Serious baseball fans, they would discuss games throughout baseball history and argue controversial calls. One question eluded them, though: Was there baseball in heaven.? They made a deal with one another. Whoever would die first would have to come back and tell Continue Reading »
Chayei Sarah | Rabbi Michael Siegel | November 19, 2022
The Normalization of Anti-Semitism is No Laughing Matter: Sermon on Chayei Sara 2022 Anshe Emet Synagogue Rabbi Michael S. Siegel I remember my first Selichot service at Anshe Emet. There I was, fresh from the Seminary, wearing my brand-new white robe. My job was to recite a prayer with the congregation. I left my seat Continue Reading »
Tetzaveh | Rabbi Michael Siegel | February 12, 2022
Aliana is my first Bat Mitzvah with Panamanian roots, so in her honor and that of her family, both here in Chicago and those in Panama, I thought to speak this morning about something that had to do with Panama. My problem is that my knowledge of Panama is limited. Truth be told, the only Continue Reading »
Terumah | Rabbi Michael Siegel | February 5, 2022
How well do you visualize? When someone tells you about something that is going to be remodeled, and they say, Well, we are going to take this wall down and move this couch here, a chair there. We are going to change the color from this to this. Of course, we are changing the light Continue Reading »
Mishpatim | Rabbi Michael Siegel | January 29, 2022
Back in the old country, back in the day of our great-great-grandparents, they knew the word “America”, but more often than not, the term that they used for this country was the goldinah medinah. The golden land, a place so rich that the streets are paved with gold. But when they arrived in this country, Continue Reading »
Toldot | Rabbi Michael Siegel | November 6, 2021
Changing the Meaning of a Phrase: Acknowledging the Hands of Esau in Our Time Rabbi Michael S. Siegel: November 6, 2021 It is remarkable how a well-known saying can lose or change its meaning over time. Consider these nursery rhymes that many of us recited to our children: Baa Baa, Black Sheep, have you any wool? Continue Reading »
Shabbat Shuvah | Rabbi Michael Siegel | September 11, 2021
The Sin for Which There is No Teshuvah: Thoughts on 9/11: 20 Years Later Rabbi Michael S. Siegel Shabbat Shuvah 2021 Shabbat Shuvah is a day that we celebrate the power of Teshuvah. Next to monotheism, this notion that human beings can win forgiveness from God for their wrongdoings may be Judaism’s greatest contribution to the Continue Reading »
