From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

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**From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life**

Bringing weekly Jewish insights into your life. Join Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz, Rabbi Michelle Robinson and Rav-Hazzan Aliza Berger of Temple Emanuel in Newton, MA as they share modern ancient wisdom.

Latest Episodes:

Shabbat Sermon with Rabbi Michelle Robinson Oct 03, 2026

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October 3, 2026

Talmud Class: A Yizkor Question--Do the Dead Know What is Happening in Our Lives? Oct 03, 2026

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Tomorrow is not only Shabbat, but also Shmini Atzeret, which means we recite Yizkor for our beloved departed. We are going to explore a question the Talmud raises at least three times: Do the dead know what is happening in our lives? When we are going through hard times, do they know? Are they rooting for us? Even interceding for us? When we are going through happy times, when we are celebrating a wedding of their grandchild or great grandchild, do they know? Are they celebrating in heaven? When we say that “they are shining down in heaven on us,” is that just poetry? Or is there any sense in which these gauzy words may be true?

Many of us see ourselves as rational: When you are dead, you are dead, you don’t know, you don’t care, you don’t exist, so how could you know or care? Many of us may believe that what Kohelet writes is true: ve’hameitim anam yodim meumah, the dead know nothing. 9:5.

And yet, I have been in the pews of funerals at a local Orthodox shul, where a local Orthodox rabbi who gives exquisite, moving, poignant eulogies, offers a trope that your beloved mother, your beloved father, your beloved grandparent, is in heaven, an advocate, a melitz yosher, arguing on your behalf before God, still knowing, still caring, still working to make possible your best life. I have been there, and heard those eulogies, and seen those tears, when dry-eyed rationalists who might believe in Kohelet weep away at the notion that their loved ones still know and care and work for our best lives.

What is that? What is the question behind the question? The Talmud’s stubborn refusal to accept the inexorable logic of Kohelet is not about ghosts or spirits. It is about loss and grief. It asks the question of Yizkor: when life ends, how do our relationships live on?

Sukkot Day II Sermon: Why Are We Still Here? with Guest Speaker Rabbi Ravid Tilles Sep 27, 2026

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Why Are We Still Here? An exploration of the second day of Yuntif’s role in keeping the Jewish people alive.We already celebrate a lot of holidays during the month of Tishrei, and on the second day of Sukkot, our tradition asks to add more limitations than was originally expected. The reason? It’s an acknowledgement of a time gone by. Join Rabbi Ravid Tilles to explore how upholding of a second day of yuntif can teach us important lessons about how our thousands year old people has sustained ourselves. If you don’t think we need to be practicing a second day of Yuntif, then you are exactly the person who should come!About Rabbi Ravid TillesRabbi Ravid Tilles is the School Rabbi and Director of Jewish Life and Learning at Schechter Boston. He and his wife, Yaffa, and three sons are members of the Temple Emanuel family.

Sukkot Sermon: M’shaneh Makom, Mshaneh Mazal! with Rabbi Aliza Berger Sep 26, 2026

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More than 2,000 years ago, Hiero II, the ruler ofSyracuse, Sicily, was feeling frustrated. He had given a local goldsmith a nice piece of gold and asked for him to create a beautiful crown. However, when the craftsman delivered the final project, Hiero had the strong suspicion that he had pocketed some of the gold and made the crown out of a mixture of gold andother, cheaper metals. He asked the goldsmith, who of course assured him that the crown was entirely gold. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been cheated. So, he summoned Archimedes, a local physicist and brilliant scientist, and asked if he could figure out a way to test the composition of the crownwithout melting it down (which was the only way to ascertain composition at thetime).

Archimedes spent weeks trying to devise a strategy. Every day, he would sit in his studyand ponder different scientific principles and approaches. And every day he returned home without answers. Finally, there was one day he was just exhausted. After hours of trying without luck, he decided to visit the bathhouse.

It was there, as he sat down in the hot water, that he suddenly had an epiphany. Henoticed that his body entering the water displaced water corresponding to thevolume of his body. If that was true, he thought, then he could test the contents of the crown by placing the amount of gold Hiero had given for the project in water and then seeing if that gold displaced the same amount ofwater as the crown that had been fashioned. His mind was racing. I’ve got it! He jumped out of the bath, shrieking “Eureka, I’ve got it!” He was so excited, he couldn’t wait. He took off running naked through the streets of Syracuseshouting “Eureka! I’ve got it!”

Archimedes was right on the money. He performed his experiment and proved that the crown had indeed been constructed of a blend of metals, and the goldsmith had indeedpocketed some of the gold intended for the crown. And he didn’t just solve the problem, he invented a principle which is still utilized today. Known as the Archimedes Principle, his discovery more than 2,000 years ago still helps us to design ships and submarines, to study fluid mechanics, and with important engineering and physics projects.

Here’s what I find so amazing about Archimedes’ discovery. He went to the bathhouse not because he was intending to continue his research and when he sat down inthat water, it wasn’t that he was trying to evaluate how much fluid would be displaced. However, somehow it happened that when he changed his physical environment, that change affected his internal environment and allowed him to expand his thinking and to solve the problem.

We’ve all lived this. We’ve been in that struggle—trying to write a paper or solve a puzzle or figure out a plan for dinner. We too have found ourselves spinning wheels until we make the choice to do something else or go somewhere else and suddenly a dazzling new idea comes to us.

Talmud Class: A Sukkot Question--What is in Your Basket of Trips? Sep 26, 2026

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Please read the short story Basket of Tripsin Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning collection called Olive Kitteridge. In a deep sense this short story moves us from Yom Kippur energy to Sukkot energy. A few questions to guide your reading:

What is the Basket of Trips literally? What does the Basket of Trips represent?
What human problem does this story speak to? How does this problem show up in your life?
What prevents Ed and Marlene Bonney from taking their trips? Why do they accumulate brochures about trips that they do not take?
This short story is not driven by plot—not much happens. It is the first day of shiva after a funeral. Rather, the story is driven by character development. Several minor characters show up at the shiva. What is their significance?
What is the message of this story? How does it connect with Yom Kippur and Sukkot?
If you were to internalize the message of this story (and of the High Holiday season), what would you do differently?

Yom Kippur Sermon with Rabbi Michelle Robinson Sep 21, 2026

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September 21, 2026

Pre-Ne’ilah Guest Speaker Bruce Feiler Sep 21, 2026

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At first blush, Bruce Feiler might seem like a curious choice for the climactic close of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our year. After all, Yom Kippur is Judaism’s most ritual-intensive day. We fast, pray, confess, reflect, seek forgiveness, and immerse ourselves in practices that have shaped Jewish life for centuries.Why, then, invite a speaker whose newest book, A Time to Gather: How Ritual Created the World—and How It Can Save Us, explores the creation of new rituals for life’s modern transitions?A bestselling author and one of America’s leading thinkers on family, faith, and meaning, Bruce Feiler began this project after he and his wife, Linda, dropped off their twin daughters at college on the very same day and suddenly found themselves empty nesters. Returning home, he found himself, as he puts it, “homesick in his own home.” What rituals, he wondered, help us navigate moments like these?In A Time to Gather, he explores both the weakening of many traditional rituals and the emergence of new ones: rituals surrounding fertility struggles, divorce, caregiving, LGBTQ+ weddings, empty nesting, and other major life transitions.His work raises a profound question, especially on Yom Kippur:What is the relationship between the rituals we inherit and the rituals we create?Can ancient rituals and new rituals strengthen one another? Do those who find meaning in the traditions of Yom Kippur also have room in their hearts for rituals crafted for modern experiences? And can newly created rituals deepen our appreciation for the wisdom embedded in inherited rituals?At Ne’ilah, our Rabbi Samuel Chiel Sanctuary is jam-packed with people standing for the last hour of Yom Kippur, approaching the open Ark, facing Torah scrolls, surrounded by love, pouring fourth their heart to their Creator. It is a space and time filled with feeling. Right before that moment, Bruce Feiler will invite us to consider not only the rituals that have formed us, but also the rituals we need for the chapters of our life that still lie ahead.What role does ritual play in your life? Which rituals have helped form you? And which rituals do you still need?

Yom Kippur Sermon: Sitting in the Saddle, Facing Backward or Forward? with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz Sep 20, 2026

Show notes

The story is told of a businessman whose company was failing. Creditors were calling. He was desperate for some move that would turn things around. He went to his lawyer. No help.He went to his accountant. No help.

He hired a consultant. Nothing. Finally, in utter desperation, he went to the rabbi. "Rabbi," he said, "please give me one idea that could save my business."

The rabbi thought for a long moment. Then he said, "All wisdom is in the Torah. Take a chumash and a folding chair to the beach on a windy day. Let the wind blow through the pages. When the wind stops, whatever page the Torah opens to contains the answer to your problem."

Several months later, the rabbi sees the man walking down the street in a brand-new suit, smiling from ear to ear. "Rabbi," he says, "it worked!" The rabbi asks, "What page did the Torah open to?" The man smiles. "Chapter 11."

I thought of that old joke this summer while reading Chapter 11 of a different book: Jim Collins's new book, What to Make of a Life. Chapter 11 contains two teachings that stopped me in my tracks. The moment I read them, I thought: I have to share these on Yom Kippur.

The first teaching is what Collins calls the Mothershead Mantra. John Mothershead Jr. was a philosophy professor at Stanford. When Collins was an undergraduate, he invited Professor Mothershead, then in his late sixties, to dinner and asked him a question: "When you look back on your life, how do you sum up what you've learned from your long experience?"

Professor Mothershead responded: "I reject your question." Then he explained:"There are two ways to go through life. The first is to ride through life sitting in the saddle looking backward. The second is to ride through life sitting in the saddle pointed forward. I'm the second. I have no interest in looking backward. I'm not done yet."

There are two ways to sit in the saddle. Facing backward. Or facing forward.And on Yom Kippur, that raises a question for every one of us: How are you sitting in the saddle?

Shabbat Shuva Sermon: Standing Together with Rabbi Marc Baker Sep 19, 2026

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On the High Holidays, G-d judges and forgives us not only as individuals but as a community. Parker Palmer describes true community as “that place where the person you least want to live with always lives.” As we enter this new year, what does this mean for our relationships and for how we show up for one another?

Rosh Hashanah Day II Sermon: The Last Word with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz Sep 13, 2026

Show notes

One night, Shira and I were pondering one of life's great unanswered questions: Is there anything good to watch on Netflix? It’s a nightly conundrum. There are over 1,000 shows to watch, and we can almost never find one we both like. But that night Shira suggested a show starring Jon Hamm called Your Friends & Neighbors. What is the premise of this show, I asked? Shira answers: Jon Hamm’s character loses his job in financial services. For his next job, he becomes a burglar, robbing the homes of his friends and neighbors. I said, with my driest holy moly tone, Shira you watch it. Enjoy. It’s not for me. I’m going to read a book. To which Shira responded: what difference does it make? You’ll be asleep in five minutes anyway! So we started watching, and not only did I not fall asleep, I was mesmerized. This particular episode was not about the unsavory premise. Rather, in a deep way, it was itself a Rosh Hashanah sermon.

The episode centered on the sudden death and funeral of Jon Hamm's character's father. As the coffin was lowered into the ground, Jon Hamm's character reflected on his father's life. He described a man who had worked hard, saved carefully, raised a family, postponed gratification, and kept telling himself that next yearwould be the year. Next year he'd enjoy life a little more. And then, on a day like any other day, he went to sleep and did not wake up. As Jon Hamm put it, his father's life "ends just like that, with no warning and no fanfare."

This father had had an assumption that shaped his whole life: There would always be later. Later totravel. Later to slow down. Later to enjoy the rewards of all those sacrifices. Except for him later never came.

And as I sat there watching, I realized: This is so us. So Newton. So Temple Emanuel.

We are responsible. We work hard. We save. We prepare. We build careers, raise families, care for parents, support communities. So many of us live according to a quiet assumption: There will always be later. Later we’ll do. Later we’ll fix. Later we’ll live.

Which is why it is so striking that the very last word of the Rosh Hashanah liturgy is Hayom. Today. Hayom tevarcheinu — bless us today. Because who knows about later?

How do we blessourselves today?