Watch, Listen, Learn

The Rabbis warn of a society defined by its cruelty toward the most vulnerable. We must not become Sodom.

I turned to King David and the Prophet Natan to learn how to fight fascism. I learned something much deeper and more sustaining for our time. Thumbnail background credit: Painting by Carole Silverstein Detail of “in the incense is tangled a cool moon” 58 x 42.5 inches framed), Acrylic Ink on Mylar, 2024 www.carolesilverstein.com

We cannot bypass the pain in pursuit of the promise. Only by confronting the trauma of our past, both individual and collective, can we build a future of expansive possibility. Thumbnail background art credit: Carole Silverstein Detail of “the velvety surfaces of dream” Acrylic Ink on Mylar, 48” x 36” 58 x 42.5 inches framed), Acrylic Ink on Mylar, 2024 https://www.carolesilverstein.com/

Lori Gottlieb and Rabbi Brous in a sermon-dialogue on the intersection of Jewish and therapeutic wisdom on issues of deep concern for us today: how to stay in relationship with people whose ideas break your heart, confirmation bias and how minds are changed (can they be?), how to overcome psychic numbing and stay centered and empathic, even when we’re hurting, how to hold hope and grow resiliency, and more. Dr. Gottlieb is a psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, which has sold over one million copies and has been translated into over 30 languages. In addition to her clinical practice, she writes The New York Times “Ask the Therapist” advice column and is co-host of the popular “Dear Therapists” podcast and the advice podcast Since You Asked. A contributing writer for The Atlantic, she also wrote The Atlantic’s “Dear Therapist” advice column for six years. She is a sought-after expert appearing on Oprah, The Today Show, The Daily Show, Good Morning America, CBS Mornings, CNN, and NPR’s “Fresh Air” and her TED Talk was one of the Top 10 Most Watched of the Year. She is also an IKAR member, and mother of the wonderful Zachary Gottlieb, IKAR teen extraordinaire.

We are facing a spiritual catastrophe. In the small space between prophecy and distinct possibility, we must forge a new path.

We’re living in a world of constant distraction and alerts and noise, and we’re exhausted. But we also don’t know how to get out of this internally and externally constructed trap. What can these holidays help us learn about the necessity of stillness and silence in order to go back out into the world? How can they help us rediscover our connection with ourselves and with each other?

There is a dominant story in America today—a story of isolation, alienation, and narrow-minded extremism, fueled by a deeply unsettling convergence of right- and left-wing antisemitism. This story—propagated by a would-be authoritarian—plays on our worst instincts: the smallness, the fear, the ever-present sense of scarcity. And it threatens to do untold damage. We must write something new.

The only way forward is one broken heart next to another, crying together, awakening to the reality that grief is our common bond.

The Torah of Joy, and the Power, Promise, and Necessity of Laughter in Dark Times. | Rosh Hashanah II 5785

Hope doesn’t die, and despair is a privilege we cannot afford. | Rosh Hashanah I 5785

What can returning to a place surface for us? And what does our tradition show us can come from that journey? | Erev Rosh Hashanah 5785

How must we respond to the danger posed by Israel’s extreme, ultranationalist government?

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy & Rabbi Sharon Brous in conversation.

Kol Nidre Sermon 5784.

Pastor Eddie Anderson, Reverend Zachary Hoover, and Rabbi Sharon Brous in conversation on Rosh Hashanah day 2 5784.