May 14th, 2022 — Parasha Emor 5782

A Jewish response to the recently leaked Supreme Court draft opinion intending to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Watch: YouTube

Listen: Spotify / Apple Podcast

April 30th, 2022 — Parshat Acharei Mot

Upon returning from his recent trip to Israel, Rabbi Kasher shares some reflections on the many Jewish identities he encountered there. He then offers three models for thinking about the question Jewish Identity: one drawn from Parshat Acharei Mot, one from a radical 19th-century Hassidic thinker, and one from the modern Hebrew dictionary.

April 27th, 2022 — Pesach VIII

John Destler (née Hans Wolfgang Destler) was born in Berlin on October 13, 1931. One of his earliest memories is of watching from the balcony of his family’s apartment as Hitler and Mussolini drove by in a motorcade. From there, he was both witness to history, a young child caught in the brutal tides of WWII, the Shoah, and family trauma. What defines a childhood steeped in the devastation of war, persecution, the threat of annihilation, and personal and international rupture?We welcomed John to our community to talk about his unique experiences and the trauma and challenges that did not end in 1945, including a lifelong battle with addiction that he was able, at the age of 72, to face and heal.Co-Sponsored by The Righteous Conversations Project, A Program of Remember Us

Listen: Apple Podcasts / Spotify

Watch: Vimeo / Video Credit: IKAR’s 6th grade 2021 Limudim students in collaboration with Shoah survivors.

April 16th, 2022
Our Passover story was made possible by a quiet revolutionary spirit manifested through four female archetypes. Follow Rabbi Tova on Instagram @rabbi_tova. Click to listen: Apple Podcast / Spotify Click to watch: YouTube

April 9th, 2022 — Parashat Metzora

Egypt is not just a place. It’s our addiction to fossil fuels, our extractive relationship to the Earth, our rendering of Creation solely and soullessly as an instrument for greed. In each generation, every individual must see themselves as though they left Egypt, which begs the question: on the road to freedom, what will each of us do to leave Egypt behind us?

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April 2nd, 2022 — Parashat Tazria

One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that we have all become better readers of Leviticus.

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March 26th, 2022 — Parashat Shmini

Reflections on mourning from Moed Katan and Parshat Shemini. In memory of Steven J. Kasher, Z”L.

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March 19th, 2022

You know the cycle. Front page headlines retreat to the back pages and eventually disappear from both the paper and our attention. Even the most horrifying headlines, those emerging from the brutal war in Ukraine, risk being ignored in the frenetic pace of our news cycle. We must not turn away. Even in the absence of a clear political path forward, we need to keep our hearts open to the stories, pleas, and suffering of the Ukrainian people, responding with empathy, advocacy, and resources.

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March 12th, 2022 — Parashat Vayikra

What, or more importantly, how do we remember? Shabbat Zakhor, when we recall the attack by Amalek on the Israelites generations ago, offers some guidance as we mark two years since the start of the pandemic.

March 5th, 2022 — Pekudei 5782

To maintain that only certain expressions of humanity are sacred, that some lives are inherently more valuable than others, is fundamentally incompatible with the truths of our tradition and the core principles of a moral society. As we face the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine alongside a growing refugee crisis worldwide, we must heed the call of our tradition to love the stranger, opening our hearts and borders to all those in need of safe refuge. We are all made in the image of God, interconnected and morally accountable to one another.

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February 26th, 2022 — Vayakhel 5782

A sermon on our relationship to technology (in which Rabbi Kasher gets his dates confused and accidentally adds a year to the pandemic!)

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February 19th, 2022 — Ki Tisa 5782

What if the redemption our tradition intended was not that of some cataclysmic historical shift, but was about brief and fleeting moments of goodness and light that shine within the chaos and darkness that invariably surrounds us. Real moments with real meaning, and that neither could nor should last forever.

 

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February 12th, 2022 — Tetzaveh 5782

Wandering through the library of Jewish legal texts, the careful observer may take notice of a curious trend. For reasons unclear, many of the classic books of Jewish law take their titles from – of all things – the various pieces of the High Priest’s clothing.

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February 5th, 2022 — Terumah 5782

We aren’t just shaped by the past. It isn’t a one-way street, dead-ending in the present. Our tradition asks us to continue to be in an active relationship with our loved ones even after they die. Caring for the deceased means advancing their core values, their life work, and dreams. And it means upholding our responsibilities, both as individuals and a community, in the moments of most profound loss.

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January 29th, 2022 — Mishpatim 5782

On my final shabbat before sabbatical, we explore the connection between na’aseh v’nishmah—doing and discovering—and shmita, a periodic break in the rhythm in order to digest, reflect and regenerate, to deepen our roots as we prepare for the next chapter of our flourishing. — Rabbi Sharon Brous

Starting February 1st, Rabbi Brous will begin her sabbatical. (Read about it here)

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Read: Source Sheet

January 22nd, 2022 — Yitro 5782

Jewish vulnerability is rooted in the enduring awareness of those who want to do us harm. And the world is full of goodness. We must learn to hold both.

January 15th, 2022 — B’shallah 5782

On the Shabbat of my son’s bar mitzvah, I refuse to flatten our Torah or defang our heroes, robbing their words of their firepower precisely when we need them most. Dr. King was a radical, just as the story of our liberation from enslavement in Egypt is radical. For this fraught time, a radical read of the moment: exploitation and oppression, suppression and subversion thrive today only because enough of those who have reached the shore of freedom are prepared to turn our backs on those still scrambling to escape harm’s way. – Rabbi Sharon Brous

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January 13th, 2022 — Rabbi Ronit Tsadok

December 18th, 2021 — Shabbat Vayehi 5782

Here’s the truth: the future is bleak, and a better world is still possible. But we no longer have the luxury of avoidance. Only when we say the hard parts out loud will the path to redemption emerge.

December 11th, 2021 — Shabbat Vayigash 5782

Why is Jewish study so mired in endless details, details, details? Can’t we just focus on what’s relevant and inspiring?! A story of the earliest days of Torah study provides us with some insight into the power of even the most arcane details to communicate profound truths.