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    Judaism

    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.

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    Latest Episodes:
    Shabbat Sermon: In a Snap! with Rabbi Michelle Robinson Sep 10, 2022
    Show notes

    September 10, 2022


    Talmud Class: Reclaiming Zionism Sep 10, 2022
    Show notes

    We bring two great thinkers to one of the Jewish people’s biggest challenges and opportunities: reclaiming Zionism. Danny Gordis’ excellent and thoughtful piece shows how, shockingly, Zionism has become a dirty word among certain segments of the American Jewish community. There are American synagogues today who are ideologically opposed to Zionism. There are rabbinical students today who are neutral or negative on Zionism. How is it possible that Zionism, which gave birth to the Jewish state, is a source of negative energy among some American Jews? Please read or reread Danny’s piece. What is his diagnosis, what is his prescription, and do you agree with him?

    Our second thinker is Yehuda Kurtzer. We will examine the sources and how he framed them in hislecturecalled The Zionist Idea delivered at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem this past summer. While Yehuda does not mention Danny Gordis or the issue of anti-Zionism, his lecture and his sources are an incredibly persuasive response to both. Yehuda talks about the idea of an idea that is a North Star, that is a compass for a system. Such an idea has to be (a) short, sweet and to the point (in Yehuda’s words, “essentialized”); and (b) it has to be so powerful that it galvanizes action. We will examine Yehuda’s treatment of the Rabbinic Idea and the American Idea as a prelude to his treatment of the Zionist Idea. What is Yehuda’s wisdom here, and does it allow us to reclaim Zionism in Israel’s 75th year for people who love Israel and are troubled by significant questions and doubts?

    In this special year of Israel’s 75th, let’s recommit to a conversation about Israel, and Zionism which made Israel possible, that welcomes diverse points of view and that deepens all of our love for the miracle that is our Jewish homeland reborn after 2,000 years.


    Shabbat Sermon: Get Better with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz Sep 03, 2022
    Show notes

    What is true for our Torah portion this morning is also true for every human being who has ever lived, including all of us here today. Also true for our country. What we all have in common is complexity: our Torah, our nation, each of us, contains multitudes.

    Charlie spoke with a wisdom beyond his years about the complexity in our parsha. The same parsha which begins with “Justice, justice shall you pursue” also commands genocide in God’s name. Also commands, in God’s name, “You may take as your booty the women, the children, the livestock, and everything in the town—all its spoil—and enjoy the use of the spoil of your enemy, which the Lord your God gives you.” We wrestle with Charlie’s question, how can the same portion that is emphatically concerned about justice in Deuteronomy 16 also command what we now know to be war crimes in Deuteronomy 20? The Torah contains multitudes.

    But isn’t that true for us all? We can be generous and ungenerous, forgiving and unforgiving, gentle and cruel. We can be present and not present, responsive and not responsive, caring and not caring, depending on the day, depending on the context. All of us contain multitudes.

    Isn’t that also true of our beloved country?


    Shabbat Sermon: Hello Darkness, My Old Friend with Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger Aug 27, 2022
    Show notes

    In 1961, Sandy Greenberg was wallowing in despair. Up until that moment, his life had been full of promise. He was brilliant, musical, and athletic. In high school, he was elected president of the student council and of his senior class, upon graduation, he won a full scholarship to Columbia University in New York and was pursuing his dreams of becoming a lawyer. He had close friends and was dating the love of his life, whom he had met in the 6th grade.

    But in 1961, Sandy felt like all the promise of his life had abandoned him. For years, ophthalmologists had failed to diagnose his vision challenges correctly, resulting in a botched treatment that hastened the deterioration of his remaining vision and forced doctors to perform a surgery which ironically saved his eyeballs while destroying what remained of his sight. Sandy was deeply depressed. He left college, moved back home to Buffalo, gave up on his dreams of becoming a lawyer, and had resigned himself to being a burden on his family for the rest of his life.

    But suddenly, out of the blue, his best friend and college roommate, Art, showed up at his door.


    Shabbat Sermon: Serving Gratitude with Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger Aug 20, 2022
    Show notes

    Serena Williams. Everyone, even the most sports illiterate, knows Serena Williams. Ever since she hit the professional stage in 1996, she has dazzled the world with her strength, skill, determination, and success. She won her first Grand Slam at 17, spent 319 weeks—more than 6 years—ranked as the No. 1 player in the world by the Women’s Tennis Association, has held all four Grand Slam titles at the same time twice, and has won more matches than all but 4 women in the history of tennis—and achieved that even though she would often turn down matches for which she qualified so she could focus on Grand Slams.

    For me and so many other women, Serena has been not only a great tennis player, but also a very personal she-ro. As a young woman, I remember watching her, thinking about how amazing it was that she wasn’t afraid to be strong. She wore clothes that highlighted her muscles, that made her look like a superhero, and avoided outfits designed to be sexy. She was aggressive on the court and didn’t try to modulate her behavior to fit within a cultural norm of demure femininity. On and off the court, she was always laser-focused and clear, and as a teenager, I was most struck by the fact that people liked her not because she was trying to be someone else, but because she was comfortable in her own skin and people are drawn to those who have confidence.

    Last week, Serena published an article in Vogue Magazine announcing that after decades of dominating the tennis world, she has decided to evolve and will soon stop playing tennis professionally. The article, titled “Serena Williams Says Farewell to Tennis On Her Own Terms—And In Her Own Words” made me think this was one more classic Serena Slam—a powerhouse woman who was moving on to another powerful vista and chapter of life with confidence and joy. I was surprised to learn just how much pain and vulnerability is wrapped up in this choice.


    Shabbat Sermon: Have a Good Summer with Rabbi Michelle Robinson Aug 13, 2022
    Show notes

    August 13, 2022


    Shabbat Sermon: Fishing for Miracles with Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger Aug 06, 2022
    Show notes

    I have a confession to make. Many of you know that I love fishing—a passion I discovered after I met Solomon. But I haven’t been completely truthful. Because, you see, it’s not just that I love fishing, I particularly love beating Solomon at fishing.

    Ever since our first fishing trip together, I have always managed to catch more fish and better fish than Solomon. From the beginning, Solomon joked that I had an advantage—that the fish were drawn to a spiritual connection. Every time we would go, Solomon would laugh and tell the crusty old boat hands about his wife, the rabbi, who catches more fish and better fish even though she has only been fishing now for a couple of seasons.

    But all that changed on our recent trip to Canada. We went out cod fishing out of Lunenberg, Nova Scotia. As usual, we joked about how long it would take me to catch my first fish. But when we sunk those lines into the water, I was in for a surprise. Unlike every other fishing trip, my line was quiet and still. But Solomon was catching fish like there was no tomorrow. Within a short window, he caught enough cod to feed the 12 friends we were visiting that night, and then started offering fish to the families around us who did not have his incredible luck. He quickly became the most popular client on the boat. I quickly became the world’s worst sport.

    Up until that point, I hadn’t realized how much of my love of fishing had to do with my luck in fishing. Also, up until that point, I hadn’t thought it was luck, really. Somehow, I had convinced myself that I was just a superior huntress, that all the years of knitting and piano had made my fingertips more sensitive, that I had an intuitive sense of the fish. But on that boat in Canada, I employed exactly the same strategies I do on every boat, I was the same person with the same skills and the same track record, but my result was so different.

    The next day I demanded that we go again.


    Shabbat Sermon: Embracing Mudernity with Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger Jul 30, 2022
    Show notes

    July 30, 2022


    Shabbat Sermon: Dr. Anonymous with Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger Jul 23, 2022
    Show notes

    Dr. John Fryer was a man of uncommon brilliance. As a child, he learned so quickly and completely that his teachers called him a prodigy. He was just five years old when he started second grade, 15 when he graduated from high school, and 19 when he graduated college and enrolled at Vanderbilt University Medical School where he became one of the youngest students ever to study psychiatry. He graduated in 1962.

    Dr. John Fryer was also gay. Back then, homophobia was codified and enshrined by the medical world and criminalized by law, a legally sanctioned form of hate. It was legal to fire someone or refuse to rent to someone based on their sexual orientation. It was even legal to arrest someone simply for the “crime” of holding a lover’s hand or for being served alcohol at a gay bar. Fryer was taunted on the playground and in the classroom, and even in medical school, he found no reprieve. The foundational diagnostic text used by all psychiatrists, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM, listed homosexuality as a mental illness. In other words, Fryer was literally taught that the way he felt, who he was attracted to, was a disease.

    Fryer wanted to be seen and loved for who he was.


    Shabbat Sermon: A Kiddush Cup Made of Broken Pieces with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz Jul 16, 2022
    Show notes

    Rabbi David Wolpe tells the story of the time that Ralph Waldo Emerson went to church one Sunday morning and was displeased with the minister’s sermon. The minister revealed nothing of his own life story, Emerson complained. He just talked about ideas and texts. Tell me how your life experience connects with my life experience connects with our life experience.

    In that spirit, I want to talk about the fact that two weeks ago, on July 3, Shira and I were in Italy for the wedding of our son Nat to his husband Davide. I share this with you not just to talk about the wedding, which was joyful and beautiful, but for a way in which a struggle I had on that day might connect with your own version of a similar struggle. What do I mean?


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