| Yom Kippur 5768/2007 |
Becoming a Place Elijah Would Want to
Visit
Elijah the prophet is one of the most frequent visitors in Jewish
folk tales. The Bible describes him being taken up in a fiery chariot,
which has led generations of Jews to believe that he never died,
but comes to visit us at holy moments.
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entire article |
Rosh Hashana
5768/2007 |
Four years ago, we took an anniversary
trip to the West Coast and drove along the Pacific Coast Highway,
renowned for its awesome views of sea and mountains. One of my favorite
parts of the drive was the beautiful bridges we drove over.
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entire article |
Union United Methodist Church
Feb 2007 |
It is a great privilege to be given the
pulpit here this morning, and I thank Reverend McLee and all of the
worshippers here at Union United Methodist Church for offering me
this occasion to speak to you. I am humbled to speak at the opening
of Black History Month, given that I should be listening rather speaking
about this subject.
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entire article |
| Yom Kippur(1) 5767/2006 |
KOL NIDRE: UNCOVERING OUR TRUE SELVES
Between the short confession of sins, the ashamnu, and the long
confession of sins, the al het, the siddur has placed a short paragraph
that might otherwise go unnoticed.
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entire article |
| Yom Kippur(2) 5767/2006 |
YOM KIPPUR: REPAIRERS OF FALLEN WALLS
Elie Wiesel tells the following story. One day the Hasidim came
to inform the great Rebbe Nahman of Bratslav of renewed persecutions
of Jews in the Ukraine.
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entire article |
Rosh Hashana(1)
5767/2006 |
HOLDING WITH OPEN ARMS REDUX
Just over a week ago, I stood at Logan Airport and waved goodbye
to my daughter as she gleefully set off for college.
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article |
| Rosh Hashana(2) 5767/2006 |
Why we are sending a congregational
trip to Israel
Following this summer’s war in Israel, I spent a great deal
of time arguing with myself about whether I should speak about
Israel during the Yamim Nora’im.
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article |
| Yom Kippur 5766/2005 |
Yom Kippur
Being Metzuveh--Sacrifice and Submission in a Reconstructionist Perspective
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article |
| Yom Kippur 5766/2005 |
Kol Nidre
It is not up to us to complete the work, but we are not free to neglect it.
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article |
| Rosh Hashana 5766/2005 |
Home Sweet Home
Each New Year, we come to the synagogue, brimming with hope.
It’s a new year, a fresh start. Time to put the past behind us and move forward
with renewed energy and commitment.
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article |
Yom Kippur 5765/2004
(1) |
From Storms of Anger
to Healing Rain
Her mother gave her a bag of nails and told her that every time
she lost her temper or insulted somebody she must hammer a nail
into the back of their fence.
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article |
Yom Kippur 5765/2004
(2) |
Having a Front Row Seat at your own Transformation
Anyone who has been to Quebec City can attest that it is an enchanting
place.
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article |
| Rosh Hashana 5765/2004 |
To Be A Jew At Home In America
On our most recent visit to Washington, D.C., we visited the Smithsonian
Museum of American history.
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article |
Purim
5765/2004 |
Gibson's Passion
Tonight we will read the Book of Esther.
Did you know that the Esther almost didn’t make it into
the Hebrew Bible?
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| 17-Oct-2003 |
Eulogy for a Dream
I have a good friend, a life-long Bostonian, who doesn't care about
the Red Sox. She has seen too many seasons come and go, too many
heartbreaking losses, to invest her emotions in the team.
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| Yom Kippur 5764/2003 |
The View From The Mountaintop
I am standing on top of Sweeney Ridge in the Golden Gate National
Recreation Area, high above the Pacific Ocean on one side, and the
San Francisco Bay on the other.
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Rosh Hashana
5764/2003 |
10
Things I Learned About Change From Getting A New Carpet
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner tells the story
of his grandparents who left their village in the Ukraine to come
to America. He says that the reason they left was on account of a
chandelier that had been his grandfather's prize possession.
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| Sermon delivered on 21-June-2003 |
Of Trumpets and Tax Cuts
This portion actually should follow chronologically at the end of
Exodus, when the Tabernacle has been completed. The people have been
safely and peacefully camped. Their needs have been provided for.
They are content.
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Sermon delivered on Shabbat
Pesach 2003 |
"And they embittered their lives
with harsh labor . . . and in all sorts of work in the fields"
(Exod. 1:14). The Rabbis find this verse confusing.
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entire article |
Sermon delivered on Shabbat
12-April-2003 |
SHABBAT HAGADOL 5763 METZORA:
Abraham Joshua Heschel taught in the name of his grandfather, the
Ohev Yisroel, that on Tisha B'Av, when we fast in memory of the
destruction of the temple, exile and persecution of our people,
he would ask ver ken essen-who can eat?
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for the entire article |
| Speech delivered at the Theodore Parker
Unitarian Universalist Church in West Roxbury on Sunday, December
1, 2002. |
CANDLES IN THE WINDOW: Hanukkah from the
Inside Looking Out
Growing up in the suburbs of Kansas City in the 1960s, I remember
very clearly when December rolled around. In first grade, I participated
in my first Christmas pageant. We sat on stage with all the other
students, singing Christmas carols. But when we came to the parts
of the song when Jesus’s name, or Christ was mentioned, I
closed my mouth. No one every seemed to care or notice. But as a
Jewish child, the name Jesus Christ suddenly turned a fun song into
a prayer, and somehow threatened my own sense of who I was.
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| Yom Kippur-Israel 5763/2002 |
On July 4, despite the protests of the
grandparents and latent fears of our own, Brian and I landed in Israel
with our two children.
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| Yom Kippur-Berlin 5763/2002 |
On Rosh Hashanah, I spoke of the two sets
of tablets, the first set that Moses shattered when he saw the Israelites
dancing around the Gold Calf, and the pristine second set, delivered
after the people’s contrition.
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Rosh Hashana
5763/2002 |
How to Live a Whole Life in a Broken World.
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| Argentina
|
On the return flight from Buenos Aires
to New York City, the flight attendants passed out the usual customs
forms. Among the mundane details, the form asked about the nature
of the trip: Business or pleasure?
Click here for the entire article. |
