Sermons

“May Your loving-kindness be my comfort, like Your words to Your servant. May Your mercies come to me, that I may live; for Your Torah is my joy.” (Psalms 119:76-78) [….]

Now that we have changed the clocks and the sun sets earlier in the day, I often have the chance to walk the 20 blocks down Broadway from JTS to my apartment while the sun is setting. And while I have made the same walk countless times during my 4+ years of school, I am always amazed by the beauty of the multi-colored sky as it reflects off of the glass and metal of the Manhattan skyline around me. [….]

Have you ever imagined what a movie about your life would be like? Who would be cast as you, your family, and your friends? What kinds of music would play in the background and give context to the peaks and valleys of your story? What framing device might a director use to introduce you and your life to the audience? [….]

In this week’s parsha, Shlach Lecha, we encounter the company of the spies. After scouting the land of Canaan, they return to the Israelite camp to give their much awaited report. But the spies speak from their fear rather than their faith, sharing that the land, though full of bounty, is also full of people who stand in the way of their inheritance[….]

We all have bodies. We tend to think of our bodies in binary terms: healthy or sick, able or disabled, fat or thin, normal or abnormal. But as with most binaries, when we look closely at these claims we begin to see how these categories fail to truly capture our selves. I might appear healthy[….]

When I first started to observe shabbat with you all, back in 2018, I mentioned the practice of having two loaves of bread for your shabbat meals. This is a practice called lechem mishneh, and it comes from this very pasuk in today’s parsha [….]

The tabernacle was brand-new. Everyone had contributed some way: they’d sewn something or cooked something, they’d donated money or personal valuables. And then during the opening ceremony fire came down from heaven and landed right on the altar they had built! It was a structure, a power the world had never seen before [….]

Last Monday night, I spent my first night serving as a chaplain, offering spiritual care to people who find themselves for one reason or another, in the hospital. I was on my way to a visit that I expected to be pretty “low key” when I got a page that a patient’s family member was[….]

I know a lot of folks are really going through a lot right now. I have really had you in my mind and heart, and I was thinking of you as I read this week’s parsha. I wanted to let you know that I am going to “go there” with my words today, and though [….]

This past week, we had the first experience of Honi spending his whole day with a nanny.  Phreddy was the one who handed him off and picked him back up, but both of us were receiving texts from the nanny all day long.  One in particular was a video of Honi in the park on […]