June 3rd, 2023 — Parashat Nasso

So many LGBTQ+ people have been hurt by religious leadership and institutions. We have the power to offer healing.

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May 20th, 2023 — Parashat Bamidbar

The mystics believe that every soul corresponds to a letter in the Torah.  And, if a letter is missing, erased, or smudged, we can’t continue reading from the scroll until that letter is restored to its vibrancy.  Anti-trans bills, including the two signed this past week, represent a conscious and coordinated attempt to erase trans and non-binary people from our communities and collective story.  It’s time to move beyond the rhetoric of support and into life-saving action.

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April 29th, 2023 — Parashat Achrei Mot-Kedoshim

Despite the many challenges the Jewish people face today, many believe that our greatest difficulty is our inability to coexist peacefully among ourselves. In our studies, we will focus on the theme of embattled siblings, which pervades the book of Genesis. We will  draw a line from these narratives to the Jewish people today, noting, and suggesting possible responses to, the enduring affliction of fractiousness among “siblings.” 

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April 22nd, 2023 — Parshat Tazria-Matzora

It’s the presence and prospect of death in our midst that makes life so precious. It’s the awareness that there’s a thin line separating it all that summons us back into life.  The lungs that breathe with you, the heart that beats for you, the blood that sustains you defines both the beginning and the end of our stories.  They belong to each other- just as death belongs to life and grief belongs to love.

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April 15th, 2023 — Parshat Shemini

For millennia, we’ve tried to understand how Aaron, Moshe’s brother, remained silent, even acquiescent after suffering unimaginable loss. Some say his heart turned to stone—he simply could no longer feel. Prophetic grief, in contrast, is born at the intersection of heartache and fury, and rages against reality. When experienced by not only by individuals but by the collective, bursts of prophetic rage and grief—while imperfect political movements—have the power to overturn world orders. Some reflections on my recent trip to Israel and the meaning and potential of this protest movement.

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April 8th, 2023

In Pirkei Avot, we read that “A free person is one who studies Torah.” How can the study of Torah help us understand and appreciate what it means to be free?

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April 1st, 2023 — Parshat Tzav

Rabbi Kasher’s farewell sermon, a pre-Passover reflection on the role of mitzvot in Jewish life.

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March 25th, 2023 — Parashat Vayikra

Right now we find ourselves approaching Passover where we are reminded of our oppression and slavery in Egypt and our eventual path toward freedom. This year it’s coinciding with proposed new national policies to turn away more asylum seekers are our borders. How can we reconcile what is happening now with our own central narrative as a people who left everything to seek freedom? What lessons can we learn about how to use our voices to fight for more justice?

 

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March 18th, 2023 — Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei

Spring is springing and the month of Nissan is coming! What will your renewal and regeneration look like this year?

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March 11th, 2023 — Parashat Ki Tissa

How our artists—then and now—transform even the deepest suffering into worlds suffused with beauty. Celebrating Betzalel, Robert Russel, and the artist within us all.

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March 4th, 2023 — Parashat Tetzaveh 5783

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Purim summons us to joy, but how do we access that joy when our hearts hurt from the shameful display of excessive violence this past week in Huwara? Our tradition pleads with us to linger in grief before we get to Purim, to mark a solemn day of fasting and course correction. For, the only road to real joy travels first through grief.

March 3rd, 2023 — Parshat Tetzaveh 5783

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After a week of violence, we must hear the Torah of the streets of Tel Aviv. Brief reflections on the heartache and the hope.

Additionally, R’ Brous was one of 120 US Jewish leaders to call on Jewish communities to boycott Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich’s US visit.

February 25th, 2023 — Parashat Terumah

Entering Adar with hearts heavy from hate, our tradition reminds us of the messages embedded from the past, and their subversive claims on our future. 

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February 11th, 2023 — Parashat Yitro

Throughout the Book of Exodus, one Hebrew word- in its many forms- pops up again and again, pointing to the core message of this master story.  Life can feel unbearably heavy, but you are never alone. With each other’s help, we can transform an overpowering weight into a way forward.

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February 4th, 2023 — Parashat B'shallah

Israel is barreling toward an unrecognizable future. Let us not sleep through the revolution.

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January 28th, 2023 — Parshat Bo

Any one of the plagues could have been the one that changed everything. But each time, just as the threat receded, so too did Pharaoh’s will to change. We, too, are addicted to the allure of the status quo. And the shootings and the police killings persist. We must be stubborn in our pursuit of progress. Unyielding. May the memories of those whose lives were taken by violence this week stir us to work toward a more just and loving world.

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January 28th, 2023 — Parshat Bo

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January 20th, 2023

Author, lawyer and Slate Senior Editor, Dahlia Lithwick discussed her new book, Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America.

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Brief Book Synopsis: “After the sudden shock of Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, many Americans felt lost and uncertain. It was clear he and his administration were going to pursue a series of retrograde, devastating policies. What could be done? Immediately, women lawyers all around the country, independently of each other, sprang into action, and they had a common goal: they weren’t going to stand by in the face of injustice, while Trump, Mitch McConnell, and the Republican party did everything in their power to remake the judiciary in their own conservative image. Over the next four years, the women worked tirelessly to hold the line against the most chaotic and malign presidency in living memory.”

January 14th, 2023 — Parshat Shemot

Reflections on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of the Hebrew Scriptures.

 

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January 7th, 2023 — Parshat Vayechi

In honor of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s 50th yahrtzeit, we revisit the central claims of his theology, exploring how wonder and a personal relationship with God can reorient our approach to a meaningful life.  Wonder reminds us that we are recipients of a gift, summoning us to the ultimate question: what are we to do with this gift?

 

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