From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

Latest Episodes:

Shabbat Sermon: Working On It with Rabbi Michelle Robinson Jul 09, 2022

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July 9, 2022

Shabbat Sermon: Always Ready, Always There—For God and Country. A Jewish Army Chaplain’s Reflection on Serving Our Nation in Uniform with Chaplain, Colonel Larry Bazer Jul 02, 2022

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Chaplain, Colonel Larry Bazer shares some special experiences of serving as a full-time National Guard Chaplain in light of Parshat Korah and our nation’s 246th birthday, as well as personal insights regarding the last few challenging years for our country, as he oversaw the National Guard's religious response during the pandemic and the tumult of these last few years.

Shabbat Sermon: Roe is Me with Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger Jun 25, 2022

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On Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down a New York law which required citizens to demonstrate “proper cause” to carry a firearm in public. Yesterday the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. Next week, the Court will hear West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency and will almost certainly strike down the right of the EPA enact rules to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to fight climate change.

Whatever your political affiliation, whomever you voted for in these past elections, we should all be concerned about these decisions.

Shabbat Sermon: What is the Opposite of Dismantle? with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz Jun 18, 2022

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Do you know what the word dox means—d-o-x? I had never heard of the word before this week. I learned its meaning as our community has encountered something you might have heard of, a website called The Mapping Project of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanction) Boston.

The dictionary definition of dox is to publish private or identifying information about a person or organization on the internet with malicious intent.

BDS Boston engages in a massive doxing of both Jewish institutions and individuals, including many who are members of our own community. It lists names and addresses of institutions and individuals, while the people responsible for this website refuse to identify themselves. BDS Boston is ostensibly about Israel and Palestinians. But in fact it does not discuss Israel. Does not discuss Palestinians. BDS Boston is about us, the Jews of Boston. They are not after Israel. They are after us. Cloaking themselves in anonymity, they pursue a double agenda.

Shabbat Sermon: Find Something Heavy to Carry with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz Jun 11, 2022

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This past week in the holy city of Boston, a miracle happened not once but twice. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Paul McCartney, who is eleven days shy of 80 years old, rocked on at Fenway Park. Fenway was jammed to the rafters, and this 80-year old singer wowed and captivated a full park for two and a half hours. Thirty songs. Did I mention that he is 80?

How does an 80-year-old still have the energy, the charisma, the voice to hold that big of an audience for that long?

How does a performer continue to perform the same songs that he has been singing, some of them Beatles classics like Can’t Buy Me Love, Hey Jude and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da for 60 years, with fresh energy? Can you do that? Can you do the same thing for 60 years, with fresh energy? Could I give the same sermon for 60 years, with fresh energy? Could you hear my same sermon for 60 years, with fresh energy? How does he do that?

Talmud Class: Is Self-Care a Legitimate Jewish Value? Jun 11, 2022

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Is self-care (the agenda of summer rest, renewal and relaxation) a Jewish value? Did Jeremiah go swimming? Did Rabbi Akiva go to the beach? Did Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi go off the grid so that he could recharge? Did Elijah ever need “me time”? Jewish sources talk about learning (Talmud) and doing (ma’aseh). Do Jewish sources value doing neither of those in the interests of recharging? How does our context figure into this question? Since the world, and our country, are in such a challenging place now, is thinking about the next few months as a sanctuary in time where we get to focus on our own healing and our own welfare an abdication—or it is essential for the work that lies ahead? What Jewish sources speak to this question, and what do they say about this moment?

Shabbat Sermon: Restoring as we Remember with Rabbi Michelle Robinson Jun 06, 2022

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Shavuot 5782

June 6, 2022

Shabbat Sermon: A Legacy of Principles from the Principal with Ilene Beckman Jun 04, 2022

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Shabbat Shalom, Everyone!

What a morning! I am utterly overwhelmed and so deeply blessed to be a part of this truly special community.

As I reflect upon what has been most important to me on this extraordinary journey as an educator, I’d like to share three of the “principles” that have motivated and guided me. But first, a disclaimer: You may hear things about me that will surprise you. As they say in the commercials, don’t try these at home…or at Religious School!!

Talmud Class: A Post-Columbine, Post-Newtown, Post-Parkland, Post-Uvalde Reading of The Binding of Isaac Jun 04, 2022

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For many decades, Rabbi Simon Greenberg would teach his students at the Seminary: Never preach about the binding of Isaac, Genesis 22 , the Torah reading for the second day of Rosh Hashanah. A parent sacrifice his child? Who would do a thing like that? A parent place some principle above the life and health and welfare of their own child? Who would do a thing like that? The whole premise of the binding of Isaac is so unrelatable, Rabbi Greenberg taught, that real people cannot relate to this opaque tale of a parent prepared to sacrifice his own son. Better to not talk about it.

I have been thinking about Rabbi Greenberg’s question: Who would do a thing like that? It is now clear that the answer is: we would. Our country would. Our country does. It is now clear that Genesis 22, this opaque tale of a parent prepared to sacrifice his own child, is our current, foundational American story. Abraham was prepared to sacrifice Isaac for his principle, the commanding voice of God. America is prepared to sacrifice our children for the commanding voice of the Second Amendment, and the unfettered right of every American to own a gun, including assault rifles.

We know about Columbine, Newtown, Parkland and Uvalde. But the Daily’s discussion of Uvalde taught me something I did not know.

Shabbat Sermon with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz - Hidden Story, Healing World May 28, 2022

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How do we think about the person whose views are not only different from our own, but antithetical to our own? What they stand for, we stand for the exact opposite. And yet we share a planet, we share a country, we share a community, perhaps we even share a family. They are not changing. We are not changing. They are here. We are here. How do we see this other human being on the other end of a contentious issue in a contentious time?